New Delhi:
The BJP‘s new government in Delhi – Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Chief Minister Thursday – is less than 24 hours old, but verbal jousting with her predecessor, the AAP’s Atishi, have already begun.
On Friday morning Ms Gupta hit back at the AAP, and included the Congress in her jabs, for critiquing her administration after just one day, pointing out those two had ruled for 13 and 15 years, respectively.
“Instead of looking at what they did… how can they raise questions on one day of ours? We had a cabinet meeting on Day 1, immediately after taking oath, and we cleared the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, which had been blocked by the AAP,” the new Chief Minister told reporters.
“We gave a benefit of Rs 10 lakhs to the people of Delhi on the first day. They (the AAP) don’t have any right to question us. We will worry about Delhi now and Delhi will get its rights under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi… They should look after their own party,” she said.
#WATCH | Delhi CM Rekha Gupta says, “The Congress ruled for 15 years and the AAP ruled for 13. Instead of looking at what they did, how can they raise questions on one day of ours?… We had a cabinet meeting on day 1, immediately after taking the oath, and we cleared the… pic.twitter.com/3OJjWRjcUF
— ANI (@ANI) February 21, 2025
Ms Gupta, a first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh and a surprise pick for the Chief Minister’s chair, also took a jab at the AAP over the election result and warned it to prep for the tabling of Comptroller and Auditor-General of India reports about corruption in its administration.
The jabs come after Atishi accused the BJP of “deceiving Delhiites from the very first day”.
The reference was to the party’s pre-poll promise about direct cash transfers to Delhi women. The BJP, she alleged, had vowed to make this a reality in the first cabinet meet but had not done so.
भाजपा की दिल्ली सरकार ने पहले दिन से ही दिल्लीवालों को धोखा देना शुरू कर दिया।
चुनाव से पहले पीएम मोदी और सभी भाजपा नेताओं ने वादा किया था कि पहली कैबिनेट में ही दिल्ली की हर महिला को ₹2500/महीना देने की योजना पास करेंगे। लेकिन आज पहली कैबिनेट हुई और इस पर कोई निर्णय नहीं हुआ।… pic.twitter.com/TqxKtvnhPQ
— Atishi (@AtishiAAP) February 20, 2025
“Before the elections, PM Modi and all BJP leaders promised that in the first cabinet meeting, they would pass a scheme to give Rs 2,500 per month to every woman in Delhi. But today, in the first cabinet meeting, no decision was made on this,” she declared.
The AAP leader also took a jab at her successor for having broken her promise to women voters, a bloc analysts believe were a crucial part of the BJP’s victory in the February 5 election.
Women voters were the focus of all three major parties in this poll – the BJP, the AAP, and the Congress all had special sections in their manifestos promising cash assistance.
READ | AAP, BJP, Congress’ Cash Promises, Chasing ‘Women Power’ In Delhi Poll
Boosted by those assurances, the BJP claimed a dominant win in the election, winning 48 of Delhi’s 70 Assembly seats. For context, in the past two elections the party won just 11 seats.
The AAP, which won 67 and 62 seats in those polls, managed just 22.
The Congress was routed for a third consecutive Delhi Assembly election.
On Thursday evening, after being sworn in, Ms Gupta and her six-member cabinet held their first meeting, at which the centre’s flagship medical insurance scheme, the Ayushman Bharat – implementation of which in Delhi had been challenged by the AAP – was cleared.
The new government also said it would table the 14 CAG reports.
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