The Bharatiya Janata Party has tried to ensure caste equations, community aspirations in the appointment of Rekha Gupta as Chief Minister and her cabinet colleagues.
Her appointment is seen as potentially historic, as there has been no woman BJP Chief Minister in any of the 21 states where the BJP holds power. Her grassroots engagement, organizational skills, and her victory in Shalimar Bagh are cited as reasons for her selection as CM of Delhi.
By appointing Rekha Gupta the CM, BJP has created many equations at once. She replaces CMs during Aam Aadmi Party tenure, Arvind Kejriwal (Bania) and Atishi Marlena (woman), and fulfilled the aspirations of these communities.
It sends out a positive message to the Saffron cadres that even an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad worker can rise to become the Chief Minister, if you work relentlessly for the organization.
By appointing, Parvesh Verma (Jat) and Deputy CM, and ministers including Ashish Sood (Punjabi, Bania), Manjinder Singh Sirsa (Sikh, Minority), Kapil Mishra (Brahmin), Ravinder Indraj Singh (Dalit) and Pankaj Kumar Singh (Purvanchali) regional, caste and community aspirations have been fulfilled.
Moreover, senior leader Vijender Gupta who hails from bania community has been accommodated as the Speaker of the House.
Tehelka.com had earlier reported that the BJP is trying to put in place social engineering for 7 cabinet berths in Delhi.
Caste and community combination for Cabinet positions have been accommodated and one candidate each from Poorvanchali, Bania, Punjabi, Jat, Brahmin, Woman and Sikh communities have found a place in the Delhi Cabinet, as was earlier reported by Tehelka.com.
By accommodating these communities, the BJP hopes to ensure representation for all major communities and castes that have supported it in the ousting of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party from power in the national capital.
The social engineering is expected to ensure that voting blocks and communities that supported the BJP in the recent Assembly polls and Lok Sabha polls last year receive adequate representation in the Delhi cabinet. The BJP hopes that this accommodation is expected to boost the political standing of the saffron front in the national capital.
In other states, 15 percent of the Assembly strength can be made ministers. However, in Delhi, only 10 percent of the Assembly seats i.e. a total of 7 ministers can be made. There are 70 members in the Delhi Legislative Assembly. BJP has won 48 seats and Aam Aadmi Party has won 22 seats in the recent polls. According to the formula in Delhi, a total of 7 ministers including the Chief Minister can be in the cabinet. That means one Chief Minister and 6 cabinet ministers.
