The appointments to Delhi’s Cabinet clearly reveal that the Bharatiya Janata Party has tried to payback the Bania community for its solid support to the saffron party over the decades.
Out of the nominations for eight posts, seven ministers in the Rekha Gupta cabinet and Speaker of the Assembly, three have been cornered by the economically and socially dominant Bania community in the national capital.
Rekha Gupta the Chief Minister, Ashish Sood as Minister and Vijender Gupta as Speaker of the Delhi Legislative Assembly are part of this payback for the community.
Sources stated that the community has received the major chunk of significant positions in the new government as it has steadfastly stood behind the BJP in the national capital over the past several decades, even during the peak popularity of Aam Aadmi Party-led by Arvind Kejriwal. Interestingly, though Arvind Kejriwal also hails from the Bania community, he was unable to dent this core vote base of the BJP in the national capital.
The BJP hopes that this accommodation is expected to boost the political standing of the saffron front in the national capital as the community is further likely to cement its support for the saffron party. Over the past several decades the community has also been accommodated in the BJP’s organizational set up in the national capital. Several of the past chiefs of Delhi BJP have also hailed from the community.
Being economically and socially upwardly mobile, the BJP has been maintaining a tight grip over the community’s vote bank and has maintained a close contact with the caste’s leaders.
BJP has won 48 seats and Aam Aadmi Party has won 22 seats in the recent Delhi Legislative Assembly polls.
