The portfolio for cabinet minister in the chief minister Rekha Gupta-led Delhi government were announced on Thursday evening, hours after the election MLAs took oath at the iconic Ramlila Maidan.
While the chief minister herself has retained departments of general administration, service, finance, revenue, women and child development and others, Delhi minister Parvesh Verma will be in charge of PWD, legislative affairs, water, irrigation, flood control and Gurdwara elections.
Ashish Sood has been assigned home, power, urban development, education, higher education and training and technical education.
List of portfolios: Who gets what
- Rekha Gupta (chief minister) – Finance, Planning, GAD, WCD, Services, Revenue, Land & Building, I&PR, Vigilance, AR. Any other department not allocated to other ministers.
- Parvesh Verma – PWD, Legislative Affairs, I&FC, Water, Gurudwara Elections
- Ashish Sood- Home, Power, UD, Education, Higher Education, Training & Technical Education
- Manjinder Singh Sirsa- Food & Supplies, Forest & Environment, Industries
- Ravinder Singh- Social Welfare, SC & ST Welfare, Cooperative, Elections
- Kapil Mishra- Law & Justice, Labour Department, Employment Department, Development, Art & Culture, Language Department, Tourism Department
- Pankaj Kumar Singh- Health and Family Welfare, Transport, Information Technology.
Rekha Gupta’s swearing-in ceremony
Earlier in the day, Rekha Gupta, the first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh, was administered oath as the chief minister by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan. Her council of ministers was also sworn in.
Six MLAs, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, who defeated former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra, and Pankaj Singh were also sworn in as ministers into Gupta’s Cabinet.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP’s top brass, including Union ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda and Rajnath Singh, and the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states, attended the ceremony.
Later in the day, Gupta reached the Delhi Secretariat to take charge as the chief minister of Delhi. She was accompanied by party leaders, including state BJP in-charge Baijayant Panda and state president Virendra Sachdeva among others. She also chaired her first cabinet meeting.
Rekha Gupta is Delhi’s fourth woman chief minister after her party’s Sushma Swaraj, the Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and AAP’s Atishi.
Gupta, a former president and general secretary of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU) served as the general secretary of the BJP Mahila Morcha in Delhi and as a member of the party’s national executive committee.
She started her political journey with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) at Daulat Ram College, Delhi University, in 1992. In 1996-97, she became president of the Delhi University Students’ Union (DUSU), where she actively raised student-related issues.
Article source: hindustantimes.com
