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Rekha Gupta to take oath as Delhi's 4th woman CM at mega swearing-in ceremony today; 50,000 people to attend: 10 updates
Delhi CM oath ceremony: Rekha Gupta, first-time MLA, will be sworn in as new CM. The new government will have 6 cabinet ministers, including Parvesh Verma.
Delhi CM oath ceremony: Rekha Gupta, a first-time MLA, will take oath as the new chief minister of Delhi on Thursday at a grand swearing-in ceremony at Ramlila Ground on Thursday, February 20. On Wednesday night, the Bharatiya Janata Party ended the 11-day suspense over the next Delhi chief minister, after it returned to power after 27 years.
Rekha Gupta, 50, was chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi assembly at the BJP legislature party meeting, senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad, who, along with OP Dhankar, was appointed as the party's two central observers, announced on Wednesday.
Follow Delhi CM Rekha Gupta Oath Taking Live Updates
Rekha Gupta, accompanied by Prasad, Dhankar and Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva among others, met Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena and staked claim to form the government. Late in the night, a post of the L-G on X said he has accepted the claim by Rekha Gupta and invited her to form the new government.
Delhi CM swearing-in ceremony: Top points
- Rekha Gupta will take oath as Delhi chief minister at a function in Ramlila Maidan in the presence of top BJP leaders and thousands of party workers.
- The new Delhi government will have six cabinet ministers, including Parvesh Verma who defeated AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
- A Union home ministry notification stated that the president, on the advice of chief minister designate Rekha Gupta, appointed BJP MLAs Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Kumar Singh as ministers of the Delhi government.
- More than 25,000 security personnel will be deployed in the central, north, and New Delhi areas of the national capital for the oath-taking ceremony.
- Rekha Gupta is set to become the fourth woman chief minister of Delhi after Sushma Swaraj(BJP), Sheila Dikshit(Congress) and Atishi(AAP).
- Around 50,000 people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, his cabinet colleagues and the chief ministers of NDA-ruled states among others, are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
- The National Security Guard commandos, Delhi Police personnel, and Rapid Action Force personnel are deployed on security at Ramlila Maidan. The swearing-in ceremony of the newly elected government will take place at 12:15 pm.
- The BJP has reportedly invited around 30,000 guests, including key RSS leaders and spiritual Dharm Gurus. Industrialists, celebrities, Laddli Bahanas, auto drivers and farmers from Delhi are also likely to attend the programme.
- Outgoing Delhi chief minister Atishi and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will also be invited according to protocol, reported.
- Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Wednesday congratulated "Haryana's daughter" Rekha Gupta on being elected as the new chief minister of Delhi, as celebrations broke out at her native Nandgarh village in Jind district.
Who is Rekha Gupta?
- Rekha Gupta won from Shalimar Bagh, defeating AAP candidate Bandana Kumari by over 29,000 votes and was among the frontrunners for the chief ministership.
- Though the law graduate from Delhi University with strong RSS roots is making her debut in the Assembly, Rekha Gupta, who hails from the Baniya community, entered politics as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member in 1992.
- Born in Haryana's Julana, she has a 32-year association with the RSS and is a former Delhi civic councillor.
- Gupta's name was proposed by senior party leaders Parvesh Verma, Vijender Gupta and Satish Upadhyay.
- Rekha is married to Manish Gupta, a businessman. The couple has two children--a daughter who lives in Australia and a son who is studying in Vellore in Tamil Nadu.
(With inputs from ANI, PTI)
