New Delhi:
Rekha Gupta is Delhi’s new Chief Minister.
A first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh in the city’s northwest, Ms Gupta has been viewed by many as a surprise pick by the BJP, which had two-time ex-Lok Sabha MP Parvesh Verma (who is also the son of former Chief Minister Saheb Singh Verma) among the more high-profile names on the shortlist.
So why Ms Gupta, who was nominated late last night after nearly two weeks of deliberations within the upper ranks of her party and some delays, because Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in France and the United States and unable to chair a required meeting of the BJP’s Parliamentary Board.
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The answer, we know now, is simple.
Sources told NDTV the BJP was looking for a) a woman Chief Minister to underline one of its core campaign platforms – women empowerment, and b) a Vaishya face, since the party’s first three were from the Punjabi (ML Khurana), Jat (Saheb Singh), and Brahmin (Sushma Swaraj) groups.
And Ms Gupta fit both criteria.
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The only other serious option was Vijender Gupta, an experienced political leader who was earlier Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly. However, while he is a Vaishya, sources said he did not meet the BJP’s gender requirement for the post.
Mr Gupta has, though, been appointed as Speaker of the Assembly, the same Assembly from which he was unceremoniously ejected – thrown out by the marshals – a decade ago.
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Rekha Gupta’s rise to the Delhi Chief Minister’s post, sources have also said, underlines the BJP’s practice of rewarding grassroots leaders for good performance. Ms Gupta may have been an unknown face, but her organisational and leadership skills were known to the BJP’s leadership.
Born in Haryana’s Jind, she has previously worked with the party’s youth wing, in which she held leadership positions, and in the execution of which she earned praise from her commanders.
She was also President of the Delhi University’s Students Union.
That point in her elevation was noted by Prime Minister Modi, who said on X, “She has risen from the grassroots… being active in campus politics, state organisation, and municipal administration, and is now a MLA as well as Chief Minister.”
Congratulating Ms Gupta today after she took oath Mr Modi again said she had “risen from the grassroots” and that she would work for the development of the city “with full vigour”.
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