New Delhi: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who took oath at the Ramlila Maidan Thursday morning, has announced the allocation of portfolios after the first cabinet meeting of the Capital’s new BJP government.
She has kept finance, services, vigilance, revenue, women and child development among other departments with her.
Her cabinet includes Jat leader Parvesh Verma, Manjinder Sirsa (Sikh), Ashish Sood (Punjabi), Pankaj Kumar Singh (Purvanchali), Ravinder Singh Indraj (Dalit) and Kapil Mishra (Purvanchali and Brahmin). The ruling BJP is trying to balance caste representation in the cabinet.
Verma has been given charge of PWD, water, gurdwara elections, legislative affairs, irrigation and flood control, while Ashish Sood has got home, power, urban development and education portfolios.
Kapil Mishra has been given law and justice, labour and employment, tourism, while Sirsa will head industries, forest and environment, food and supply departments.
Pankaj Singh has been allocated health, transport and information technology departments, while Ravinder Indraj got social welfare, SC & ST welfare, cooperative and elections.
A senior BJP leader said that after choosing a woman chief minister, it was felt the party should reach out to maximum sections of society by keeping the “right caste-mix”.
“With Bihar assembly elections set to take place later this year, the party has accommodated two Purvanchali faces—Pankaj Singh and Kapil Mishra. Purvanchali voters played a significant role in these elections and the party has rewarded such leaders by including them in the cabinet,” said a senior BJP leader.
Who are the new Delhi ministers
Parvesh Verma: Verma represented the West Delhi constituency in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 and also won the Mehrauli assembly seat in the 2013 elections. His father was chief minister of Delhi between 1996 and 1998. Despite winning with one of the highest margins in Lok Sabha elections in 2019, Verma was denied a ticket for the 2024 general elections but was made the co-incharge for the Rajasthan Lok Sabha elections.
While the BJP did not name a chief ministerial candidate in its poll campaign in 2025, Verma was viewed as one of the strongest contenders for the position but the party opted for Gupta. “He defeated Arvind Kejriwal which is a big feat and he has been rewarded for it,” said a senior BJP leader.
Kapil Mishra: Mishra was given a ticket from Karawal Nagar in place of sitting MLA Mohan Singh Bisht. The BJP leader courted controversy for his fiery speech in 2020 that was said to have triggered the riots in northeast Delhi. He was targeted by the ruling AAP and the Congress in Delhi for his remarks. Mishra was later given organisational responsibility in the party and was made the vice-president of Delhi BJP in 2023.
Mishra unsuccessfully contested on a BJP ticket from Model Town in 2020. He was earlier with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and served as a cabinet minister in Delhi during the Arvind Kejriwal government from 2015 to 2017. He had won from the Karawal Nagar in the 2015 elections.
He was inducted as water resource minister in the Arvind Kejriwal government but was removed after a falling out. In 2019, he joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the Delhi Assembly elections on a BJP ticket.
Mishra courted several controversies during his political tenure, from initiating the “desh ke gaddaro ko” chant at a pro-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) rally to leading an agitation against Shaheen Bagh protests.
Ashish Sood: Sood, a known Punjabi face of the BJP, is a senior party leader with a strong RSS background. He won from the Janakpuri constituency, defeating AAP’s Rajesh Rishi by a margin of almost 19,000 votes. Sood has held several posts within the party and is known for his organisational skills.
He has served as a serving municipal councillor, Leader of the House in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC), and later on as the incharge of Goa and co-incharge for Jammu and Kashmir. He has also served as the vice president of BJP’s Delhi unit.
Manjinder Singh Sirsa: The “Sikh face” of the BJP the party in 2021. Sirsa won the recent Delhi assembly elections from Rajouri Garden. Sirsa began his political journey as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and served as the president of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC).
Pankaj Singh: A Purvanchali face in the party and a dentist by profession, Singh is a first-time MLA from Vikaspuri. Singh has also held several positions in the municipal corporation.
Ravinder Indraj Singh: Ravinder Indraj Singh is BJP’s Dalit leader. He won the Bawana (SC) seat by more than 31,000 votes. Singh, 50, has also been an executive member of BJP’s Scheduled Caste Morcha. The businessman has been working on issues related to the Dalit community for several years. His father was also an MLA in Delhi.
This is an updated version of the earlier report.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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