First-time lawmaker Rekha Gupta took oath as the ninth chief minister of Delhi in a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday, marking the return of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power in the national capital for the first time in nearly three decades.
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THE BIG STORY
Delhi CM Rekha takes charge; Kapil, Parvesh among six ministers
Six other legislators took oath as ministers – Jat face Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma (New Delhi) who defeated Arvind Kejriwal, Punjabi face Ashish Sood (Janakpuri), Sikh face Manjinder Singh Sirsa (Rajouri Garden), Dalit face Ravinder Indraj Singh (Bawana), Purvanchali Brahmin face Kapil Mishra (Karawal Nagar), and Purvanchali Thakur face Pankaj Singh (Vikaspuri). The CM and all ministers took oath in Hindi while Sirsa was sworn-in in Punjabi.
Gupta, the legislator from Shalimar Bagh in west Delhi, spent a busy day – first taking oath in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a ceremony that doubled as a show of strength for the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), then taking charge as CM at the secretariat, then at an evening aarti at the Yamuna ghat, and finally, presiding over the first meeting of the new Delhi cabinet. Read more.
THE BIG QUESTION
What did Trump say about Biden admin’s influence on Indian election?
United States President Donald Trump suggested that USAID under the Joe Biden administration was “trying to get somebody else elected” in India through a $21 million voter turnout grant -- a comment that intensified political tensions between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress afresh on Thursday.
“And $21 million for voter turnout in India. Why do we need to spend $21 million for voter turnout in India? Wow, I guess they (the Biden administration) were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government...this is a total breakthrough,” Trump remarked at the FII Priority Summit in Miami.
The remarks triggered a political firestorm. Read more.
