Udaipur, February 21, 2025 - Rekha Gupta is the new Chief Minister of Delhi, bringing her party, the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) back to power in the national capital after 27 years. Gupta took oath of office yesterday along with six other BJP MLAs who are part of her Cabinet. While Delhi waits with bated breath to find out if the party comes good on all its poll promises, the Delhi CM is looking like being an extremely busy person going forward… if her portfolio is anything to go by.

The 50-year-old grassroots leader with an RSS–ABVP background, whose selection for the CM post surprised many within the party, has promised to deliver on the “Viksit Delhi” vision.

Last evening, Gupta addressed a press conference with her Cabinet team - Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra - and gave details of the portfolios assigned. She has kept 10 departments under her charge. Sood and Mishra have six portfolios each, Verma will look after five departments while Ravinder Indraj Singh and Pankaj Kumar Singh each have three departments to look after.

Portfolios

Apart from the 10 departments allocated to herself, the CM will also handle all other portfolio not officially assigned to any of the Ministers. With so much in her kitty, especially crucial departments like finance and planning, the first-time MLA is going to have her hands full with not only having to undo the alleged wrongs by the previous government but also fulfil the promises made by her party during the poll campaign.

The new CM has already announced that the AAP government will be held accountable for its actions and “will have to give an account for each and every penny to the people." 

However, BJP’s biggest and most talked-of poll promise was providing Rs 2,500 monthly assistance to eligible women beneficiaries of Delhi as monetary support if it came to power. In its January poll manifesto, the party had announced several benefits for women of which one was this - the Mahila Samridhi Yojana.

Poll Promises

During the poll campaign, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said: “We have pledged to give Rs 2,500 (per month) to our sisters … this guarantee will be completed because it is Modi’s guarantee … you will see that the BJP government will be formed in Delhi and on March 8, International Women’s Day … they (women) will start getting money in their accounts.”

Ahead of the new Cabinet’s first meeting, former Delhi CM Atishi of AAP had challenged Gupta to go ahead and implement this promise now. "The BJP has started breaking its promises on the first day itself," she alleged.

Before taking oath as CM, Gupta had said: “Fulfilling the dream of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the responsibility of all the 48 BJP MLAs in the capital. We will definitely fulfill all our promises, including financial support for women. Women will 100% get monetary support into their accounts by March 8.” The date March 8 is significant as it is celebrated as International Women's Day.

When later probed on this, the CM said that more discussions were required for taking a call on which categories of women would be eligible for the benefits.

The BJP in its manifesto had also announced six nutritional kits for women plus Rs 21,000 to pregnant women. Additionally, a Rs 500 subsidy on LPG cylinders were promised for poor women in Delhi and one free cylinder on every Holi and Diwali to families of eligible women.

Cabinet Decisions

In its first Cabinet meeting, the new government took the decision to implement the Ayushman Bharat Yojana and to table the pending 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the Delhi Assembly.

Taking a dig at AAP, the new CM said: “Two main decisions have been taken. First, Ayushman Yojana, which was stalled by the earlier government and because of the AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) government, people of Delhi did not get it. Today’s first Cabinet meeting has taken a decision to implement Ayushman Bharat Yojana in Delhi with Rs 5 lakh top-up from the Delhi government. Also, Rs 5 lakh will be given by the Central Government. It’ll be implemented as early as possible.”

“Second, 14 CAG reports which were pending and not tabled by the earlier government will be tabled in the first Assembly session,” she further said.

Those who have voted BJP to power, are hoping that the new Cabinet will take an active and hands-on approach in addressing Delhi’s governance issues. The challenges before Rekha Gupta will no doubt be immense.