Parvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra Named to Rekha Gupta’s 6-Member BJP Council

Kapil Mishra, Parvesh Verma to serve on Rekha Gupta's six-member council In addition to being the first MLA from Shalimar Bagh, Rekha Gupta will be the second woman to serve as Delhi's chief minister for the BJP. Sushma Swaraj was the last BJP leader to do so.

 Hours before the oath ceremony, President Droupadi Murmu's office announced Thursday morning that Parvesh Singh Verma and Kapil Mishra would be members of the new seven-member Bharatiya Janata Party cabinet for the national capital, which would be led by incoming Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta.

 In addition to appointing Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ashish Sood, Pankaj Kumar Singh, and Ravinder Indraj Singh to the cabinet, Ms Murmu's notifications included the first confirmation of Rekha Gupta as Chief Minister.

 As of yet, portfolios have not been assigned.

In a lavish ceremony at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi, all of the ministers will take the oath of office.

 The BJP has thrown caution to the wind in preparing for the event, inviting not only movie stars and business magnates but also the "aam aadmi," such as farmers and autorickshaw drivers.  Mr Mishra, who is accused of delivering hate speech during the 2020 Delhi communal riots, told news agency ANI that the people have punished the former government for "betraying the people of Delhi."

#WATCH | BJP leader Kapil Mishra, who will take oath as a Delhi minister today, says, "... All of us will work together to implement PM Modi's vision. They (AAP) betrayed the people of Delhi, and they received their punishment through the power of vote... There will be an… pic.twitter.com/O4fuFVRKuS

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025

He claimed, "There will be an investigation against the corruption of the Aam Aadmi Party and Arvind Kejriwal," following his trip to pray at the Jhandewala Devi Mandir, or temple, in Karol Bagh.

 "This opportunity to work as a Delhi minister" was the thank you that Mr. Sirsa expressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP president JP Nadda.  "It is an opportunity for all of us to work together to make Delhi beautiful once again..." he said to ANI.

#WATCH | BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa, who will take oath as a Delhi minister today, says, "I thank PM Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, JP Nadda, Baijayant Panda and Virendraa Sachdeva. They included me in the team which has been formed to realise the vision of PM Modi for… pic.twitter.com/IHdiirdAuZ

— ANI (@ANI) February 20, 2025

After a tense 12-day period after the Delhi Assembly election, which the BJP won handily, the notifications came to an end.  48 of the 70 seats in the national capital were won by the BJP, which crushed the Aam Aadmi Party, the party of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, which had controlled the city since 2013.

 The remaining seats were won by the AAP, who led the previous two polls with 67 and 62 seats, respectively.

 But it remained unclear who would succeed AAP's Atishi as chief minister between the results announcement on February 8 and late last night, with the BJP keeping its cards close to the vest.  The appointment of Ms Gupta by the party put an end to the rumours, and there were many of them.

 According to sources, NDTV, the delay was caused in part because of the visits to France and the US by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which delayed the party's Parliamentary Board and newly elected lawmakers' sessions, both of which were concluded yesterday.

The first Delhi chief minister appointed by the BJP in almost thirty years will be Rekha Gupta.  In addition to being the party's second female Delhi chief minister, Ms Gupta, a first-time Shalimar Bagh MLA, would succeed the late Sushma Swaraj, the final BJP leader to serve in this capacity.

 When she left her house yesterday to attend the legislators' meeting, she had no idea that she would be chosen to lead the government, she told NDTV this morning.  She claimed, "When I left home, I did not know that I would become the Chief Minister," and it was ar. Verma, who suggested her for the position.

Being the son of another former Delhi Chief Minister, Saheb Singh Verma, and a two-time former Lok Sabha MP, Mr Verma was considered the front-runner for the position, especially after defeating Arvind Kejriwal to win the coveted New Delhi seat.

 The fact that Mr Kejriwal and Sheila Dikshit of the Congress, two of the previous three chief ministers of Delhi, also held that position appeared to support his assertion.  However, the top BJP officials disagreed.

 Instead, the appointment of Ms Gupta highlights the party's emphasis on female voters in this and previous elections.  With special promises for women, the BJP, AAP, and even the Congress—which was defeated, albeit for the third straight election—adopted a campaign strategy that demonstrated this focus.