Rekha Gupta Triumphs in Delhi CM Race as BJP Ticks Dark Horse

Shalimar Bagh MLA Emerges Giant Killer in Delhi CM Race

By Manish Anand

New Delhi, February 19: Rekha Gupta, the first-term legislator from Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency, will be Delhi’s next Chief Minister. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature party in its meeting on Wednesday elected Rekha Gupta as the leader.

She will take oath as Chief Minister of Delhi tomorrow at the Ram Lila Ground in the national capital. The BJP has invited all the Chief Ministers of the NDA-ruled states for the oath-taking ceremony.

Rekha Gupta beat several heavyweight contenders in the race to get the leadership endorsement. Delhi heavyweight BJP leaders such as Parvesh Verma and Vijendra Gupta were also seen in the race.

But the BJP top brass has shown ample hints of backing underdogs with preference to first-term MLAs. The BJP thus picked up CMs in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The BJP also backed a dark horse in Odisha for the CM post.

BJP Works Action Plan to Fulfil Poll Promises in Delhi

Rekha Gupta will become the only woman Chief Minister in the NDA-ruled states currently. She will, however, be Delhi’s fourth woman Chief Minister. Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit, and Atishi have been the last three women Chief Ministers of Delhi.

Rekha Gupta honed her political skills in Delhi University as a student leader. She went on to become secretary of the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU). Before her, Arun Jaitely and Vijay Goyal also had come into political prominence after their stints in the DUSU politics.

Rekha Gupta trounced Bandna Kumari of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) from the Shalimar Bagh Assembly seat. Rekha Gupta is also the vice president of the women wing of the BJP.

Rekha Gupta has no administrative experience. None of the contenders in the race for the Delhi CM had any administrative experience. Only Vijendra Gupta had a sort of an administrative experience having been the chairman of the standing committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi in the past.

Former Union Minister Ravishankar Prasad oversaw the meeting of the Delhi legislators party meeting on Wednesday. The BJP took almost 11 days in deciding the name of the CM of Delhi.

The top brass of the BJP appears to have favoured a woman face in Delhi to align with the middle class oriented politics. Incidentally, Rekha Gupta will be the only second woman Chief Minister currently in the country.

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About The Author

Manish Anand

Manish Anand is a senior journalist with more than two decades of hardcore reporting on beats such as Prime Minister’s Office, Parliament, BJP, Congress, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog, and scores of Union Ministries.

His past has been with The New Indian Express, The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle, and The Statesman.

For about 15 years, Manish was also a regular commentator and host for talks on AIR on foreign affairs.

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