First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
Gupta, 50, was chosen as the Leader of the House in the Delhi assembly at the BJP legislature party meeting late evening in New Delhi, senior BJP leader Ravishankar Prasad, who along with O P Dhankar was appointed as the party’s two central observers, announced on Wednesday.
Gupta, accompanied by Prasad, Dhankar and Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva among others, met Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena and staked claim to form the government.
Late in the night, a post of the LG on X said he has accepted the claim by Gupta and invited her to form the new government.
Gupta, who won from Shalimar Bagh defeating AAP candidate Bandana Kumari by over 29,000 votes and was among the frontrunners for the chief ministership, will take the oath of office at a grand ceremony at the Ramlila ground on Thursday.
She 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 National Democratic Alliance-ruled states among others, are expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony.
