New Delhi [India]: Delhi’s newly sworn-in Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta, participated in the evening aarti on the banks of the Yamuna at Vasudev Ghat on Thursday. She was accompanied by her newly inducted cabinet ministers and Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva.
Gupta, a first-time MLA from the Shalimar Bagh constituency, took the oath as the ninth Chief Minister of Delhi earlier in the day at a grand ceremony held at Ramlila Maidan. The event was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, senior BJP leaders, and chief ministers from NDA-ruled states.
The 50-year-old leader was chosen as Delhi’s new Chief Minister during the BJP Legislature Party meeting held at the party’s national headquarters on Wednesday.
Along with Rekha Gupta, other leaders, including Parvesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Kapil Mishra, Ravinder Indraj Singh, and Pankaj Singh, were also sworn in by Lt. Governor VK Saxena.
Earlier in the day, visuals showed the cleaning process of the Yamuna River. Following BJP’s landslide victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, where it secured 48 out of 70 seats, the party initiated efforts to clean the Yamuna. On February 16, trash skimmers, weed harvesters, and dredge utility vehicles were deployed to remove pollutants from the river. Additionally, evening aarti was introduced at Vasudev Ghat.
Pollution in the Yamuna was a major election issue, with political parties blaming each other over pollution, encroachments, and flood management. The BJP had accused AAP of failing to deliver on its promises to clean the river and listed Yamuna’s cleanup as one of its top priorities in the party manifesto.
Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha MP Swati Maliwal urged the newly elected Delhi government to table the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report and expedite efforts to clean the Yamuna. Addressing concerns about the report, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had assured on February 8 that it would be presented in the first session of the newly elected assembly.