Delhi cabinet: Parvesh Verma, Kapil Mishra among six to take oath as ministers

The newly elected Delhi government will have six cabinet ministers, including Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, who defeated AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal in the recent assembly elections. The ministers will be sworn in on Thursday afternoon, officials confirmed.

A notification from the Union Home Ministry stated that President Droupadi Murmu, acting on the recommendation of Chief Minister-designate Rekha Gupta, has appointed BJP legislators Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj, Kapil Mishra, and Pankaj Kumar Singh as ministers in the Delhi government.

The swearing-in ceremony, set to take place at Ramlila Maidan, will be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other dignitaries. Gupta will take the oath as the chief minister alongside her cabinet colleagues in what is expected to be a grand event.

Parvesh Verma, a key Jat leader in Delhi politics, gained prominence after defeating AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the New Delhi constituency by 4,089 votes. With the BJP securing 48 out of 70 seats in the assembly, Verma was initially seen as a frontrunner for the chief minister’s post. Previously, he served as a Member of Parliament from West Delhi from 2014 to 2024.

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Kapil Mishra, who won the Karawal Nagar seat by defeating AAP’s Manoj Kumar Tyagi with a margin of 23,355 votes, was previously part of the Arvind Kejriwal-led government. He was appointed as Delhi’s water resources minister in 2015 but was later sacked after alleging corruption charges against then-minister Satyendar Jain. Mishra contested the 2020 assembly elections from Model Town as a BJP candidate but lost to AAP’s Akhilesh Pati Tripathi. He has also faced criticism for alleged provocative remarks ahead of the February 2020 Delhi riots.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa reclaimed the Rajouri Garden seat by defeating AAP candidate Dhanwati Chandela by over 18,000 votes. Sirsa had previously represented the constituency in the 2017 by-elections but lost to Chandela in the 2020 assembly polls. His return marks a significant political comeback for the BJP in the area.

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Ashish Sood, considered a strong contender for the chief minister’s post, won from Janakpuri by defeating AAP’s Parveen Kumar with a margin of 18,766 votes. A prominent BJP leader, Sood also serves as the party’s co-incharge for Jammu and Kashmir.

Pankaj Kumar Singh, son of former Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) member Raja Mohan Singh, has a background in local governance. A dentist by profession, he has held key positions in the MCD. Singh won his first assembly election from Vikaspuri, defeating AAP’s Mahinder Yadav by nearly 13,000 votes.

Ravinder Indraj Singh, a strong Dalit face within the BJP, secured a landslide victory in Bawana, defeating AAP’s Jai Bhagwan Upkar by over 31,000 votes. A member of the BJP’s SC Morcha, Indraj has long been involved in advocating for Dalit rights and community development.

With the new cabinet in place, the BJP-led Delhi government is set to begin its tenure with a strong mandate, marking a significant shift in the capital’s political landscape.