NEW DELHI: BJP's debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister on Thursday in a grand show of strength that marks the party's return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
Along with Gupta, Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Singh were also administered the oath of office by Lt Governor V K Saxena.
The ceremony at the historic Ramlila Ground was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the top BJP brass and NDA chief ministers. Gupta is Delhi’s fourth woman chief minister. The 50-year-old MLA from Shalimar Bagh is also the only woman in the NDA team of chief ministers.
The new chief minister and her ministers will head to the Delhi Secretariat to take charge of their offices after the oath ceremony.
Among those who attended the event were chief ministers of states ruled by the BJP and its NDA allies -- Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis, Andhra Pradesh's Chandrababu Naidu, Goa's Pramod Sawant, Haryana's Nayab Singh Saini and Meghalaya's Conrad Sangma.
Deputy chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak, and Andhra Pradesh's Pawan Kalyan were present too.