Why BJP selected Rekha Gupta as Delhi CM

Delhi has obtained its new chief minister within the Bharatiya Janata Celebration (BJP) chief Rekha Gupta. The Shalimar Bagh MLA took oath as Delhi CM in the present day (February 20) at a mega ceremony on the historic Ramlila Floor.

With this, the 50-year-old has change into the fourth lady chief minister of the nationwide capital. She can be the BJP’s fourth face to helm the Union Territory after Madan Lal Khurana, Sahib Singh Verma and Sushma Swaraj.

Gupta pipped names like Parvesh Verma, Vijender Gupta, Satish Upadhyay, Ashish Sood, and Shikha Roy to take excessive submit. She is now the primary BJP CM in Delhi after 27 years.

However why did the saffron social gathering choose her?

Let’s perceive.

Why BJP went with Rekha Gupta

Rekha Gupta, a first-time legislator from the BJP, defeated the three-time Aam Aadmi Celebration (AAP) MLA Bandana Kumari by over 29,000 votes from Shalimar Bagh within the Delhi elections.

Belonging to the Vaishya group, Gupta has long-lasting ties with the BJP’s ideological mum or dad – the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). She joined the RSS college students’ wing, Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), in 1992.

A BCom graduate from Delhi College’s Daulat Ram School, Gupta has expertise in politics for 30 years. She was the Secretary of the Delhi College College students’ Union (DUSU) in 1995 and have become its president the next yr.

After Sushma Swaraj – whose tenure lasted simply 52 days, Gupta is the second lady picked by the BJP to rule Delhi. Her id as a girl from the Bania group helped her case with the saffron social gathering’s high brass.

The BJP is attempting to ship a direct message to the AAP along with her choice. AAP chief and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal can be from the identical caste as Gupta. As Satish Ok Jha, a Political Science Professor at DU’s Aryabhatta School wrote for Indian Categorical, Kejriwal’s social gathering continues to have maintain over Purvanchali and Vaishya-Bania communities in Delhi in addition to girls voters.

BJP’s first-time MLA Rekha Gupta takes oath because the Chief Minister of Delhi. Lt Governor VK Saxena administers her oath of workplace.

With this, Delhi will get its fourth lady CM, after BJP’s Sushma Swaraj, Congress’ Sheila Dikshit, and AAP’s Atishi. pic.twitter.com/Eomgp9r1Rk

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025

By choosing
Gupta, the BJP is strolling its discuss on empowering girls in electoral politics by extra illustration. Gupta has changed AAP’s Atishi who served because the Delhi CM for simply 5 months, taking up the submit after Kejriwal resigned final September.

A BJP insider informed The Hindu, “The earlier Chief Minister was known as a ‘short-term CM’, and now the BJP has include a robust face to counter that.”

Notably, Gupta is the one lady among the many BJP’s 13 chief ministers throughout the nation.

“In her [
Rekha Gupta], the BJP has discovered mixture to switch Kejriwal, a Vaishya, and Atishi, a girl,” Jha wrote in his opinion piece for Indian Categorical.

With Gupta, the BJP has chosen a seasoned politician with a clear picture. Not like her different counterparts – Ramesh Bidhuri and Parvesh Verma, she has not hit the headlines for stoking controversies.

Whereas Verma was among the many frontrunners for the highest job, his id because the son of former Delhi CM Sahib Singh Verma went towards him. If the BJP had chosen him, it might have come underneath fireplace from the opposition over dynasty politics.

Rekha Gupta suits the invoice as she is a grassroots chief who rose by the ranks throughout the social gathering.

Challenges earlier than Delhi CM

Delhi CM Rekha Gupta has her palms full as she assumes workplace. Sources informed News18 that the BJP’s high management and the Centre count on “seen outcomes” on the streets of Delhi throughout the first 100 days of the formation of the brand new authorities.

The BJP made a number of guarantees in its manifesto forward of the Delhi Meeting elections. Moreover persevering with the welfare schemes of the earlier AAP authorities, the BJP additionally has its personal guarantees to fulfil.

Gupta should set a correct mechanism to disburse Rs 2,500 to eligible girls beneficiaries by March 8, a key election promise of the saffron social gathering. Different commitments to girls embody offering monetary help of Rs 21,000 and 6 dietary kits to pregnant girls.

The Delhi CM additionally has to make sure the implementation of the Centre’s Ayushman Bharat Scheme, which was not adopted by the AAP authorities.

Growing Delhi’s infrastructure, cleansing the Yamuna river and managing the town’s funds are another challenges that Gupta shall be dealing with within the coming days.

Throughout her election campaigning, Gupta had vowed to make a ‘Viksit Delhi’ {that a} ‘Viksit Bharat’ deserves as its capital. Now, the folks of the town shall be anticipating her to ship on that promise.

With inputs from companies