Team News Riveting
New Delhi, February 20
Former Delhi University President and BJP’s debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi Chief Minister on Thursday.
She was administered oath of office and secrecy by Lt Governor V K Saxena. Rekha Gupta became the ninth Chief Minister of Delhi. She will be the fourth woman to hold the office.
The swearing-in ceremony was held at the historic Ramlila Ground in a grand show of strength that marked the party’s return to power in the national capital after more than 26 years. The function was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the top BJP brass and NDA chief ministers.
The 50-year-old MLA from Shalimar Bagh is also the only woman among the NDA Chief Ministers.
Besides Rekha Gupta, six newly elected MLAs Parvesh Verma who defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat, Ashish Sood, Pankaj Singh, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra and Ravinder Indraj were sworn-in as cabinet ministers.
The Chief Ministers of states ruled by the BJP and its NDA allies including Chhattisgarh’s Vishnu Deo Sai, Maharashtra’s Devendra Fadnavis, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu, Goa’s Pramod Sawant, Haryana’s Nayab Singh Saini and Meghalaya’s Conrad Sangma attended the swearing-in ceremony. Deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Andhra Pradesh’s Pawan Kalyan were present too.
Rekha Gupta was elected as Leader of the House in the newly constituted 8th Delhi Assembly, in a meeting of the BJP legislature party on Wednesday.
The BJP ended a decade-long rule of Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP in Delhi, winning 48 of the 70 seats in the Assembly polls held on February 5. The BJP last had power in Delhi way back in 1993-98.
