NEW DELHI: Catching heavyweights and hopefuls in the party off-guard, BJP Wednesday chose a first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh, Rekha Gupta, as Delhi chief minister.
The fourth woman to get the top job in Delhi after Sushma Swaraj (BJP), Sheila Dikshit (Congress) and Atishi (AAP), Gupta, 50, will steer BJP’s govt in the city, 27 years after the last one led by Swaraj.
After Gupta, a three-time councillor, was elected leader of the legislature party, she went to Raj Niwas and staked her claim to form the govt before LG V K Saxena. Her name had been proposed by MLAs Parvesh Verma, Satish Upadhyay and Vijender Gupta — all probable candidates for the coveted job before the central brass announced its decision.
Saxena greeted her with a bouquet and gave BJP the green signal for the swearing-in ceremony to be held at Ramlila Maidan on Thursday noon.
Gupta was accompanied to Raj Niwas by Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and central observers for conducting the legislature party meet, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Om Prakash Dhankhar.
“I want to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, our party’s top leadership and people of Delhi for giving me the responsibility to preside over a new era that is starting in Delhi after 27 years. This is a moment of pride for women across the country,” said Gupta. “To fulfill each and every commitment of BJP made to people of Delhi is the goal of my life,” she said. “All MLAs will work like Team Modi to fulfill these commitments,” she added.
Gupta has been accorded ‘Z’ category security by Delhi Police.
The office of the party’s Delhi unit on 14 Pant Marg had been decorated with flowers with the sound of dhol and shehnai wafting in the air. The MLAs started arriving at 6 pm with the meeting beginning around 7 pm and lasting for an hour.
Outside the venue, supporters of senior party functionaries and claimants to the top job, besides media personnel, had gathered in large numbers long before the meeting began. The supporters were shouting slogans in favour of their preferred choice, particularly Rekha Gupta and Parvesh Verma, in a show of strength.
Party sources said Delhi BJP Chief Virendra Sachdeva had a private discussion with Verma, Vijender Gupta and Upadhyay. Parvesh defeated AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal; Upadhyay has previously served as the party’s state chief; and Vijender Gupta had managed to buck the trend by winning in the assembly polls in 2015 and 2020 in the face of an AAP wave.
According to party sources, they are all being considered for important positions, including that of ministers, speaker and other posts.
When Verma came out of the meeting, he was asked if he was being considered for the post of deputy CM but he did not reply. “We are going to the LG’s office. It is a matter of happiness that a woman has been made CM,” he said.
Most MLAs who emerged from the legislature party meeting stressed on the party’s decision to appoint a woman CM, highlighting its dedication to women empowerment. Party functionaries said she fulfilled three crucial criteria: that of being a woman, belonging to the Bania community and maintaining a low-key public profile. This is in keeping with the recent trend of the party going for relatively low-profile leaders for the chief minister’s role as evident in other states.
BJP MP from South Delhi Ramvir Singh Bidhuri, who had drafted the party’s manifesto, said after the meeting: “She will prove to be the best chief minister of Delhi. The party has always been a pioneer in women empowerment, and this is another example of that. Delhi will now become the developed and prosperous capital of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s dreams.”
MP Manoj Tiwari, who was also present at the meeting, said, “This is a message for women empowerment. It was our party that brought the women’s reservation bill in Parliament, and now we have taken another step that proves our commitment to women empowerment.”