Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi CM: Decoding BJP’s strategy of backing ‘dark horses’

Rekha Gupta sworn in as Delhi CM: Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has joined the growing league of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, who were considered dark horses before being given key government positions.

At 50, Rekha Gupta is a first-time Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA). She has also been a municipal councillor. Gupta’s swearing-in today as Delhi CM marks the end of the 27-year wait for the BJP to come to power in the national capital.

Gupta beat many heavyweight CM hopefuls like Parvesh Verma and Vijendra Gupta. Verma is a former Member of Parliament (MP) who defeated Arvind Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat in the assembly elections. His father, Sahib Singh Verma, has also been CM of Delhi. Likewise, Gupta is another senior BJP leader, having won from the Rohini seat thrice, including in 2015 and 2020, when Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party dominated the election results.

But why a dark horse? It’s not the first time the BJP has picked a dark horse to be at the helm of a state. In March last year, the BJP selected Nayab Singh Saini, another dark horse, as the chief minister of Haryana, replacing Manohar Lal Khattar to counter anti-incumbency. In October 2024, the BJP scripted a historic victory, defeating the Congress. Saini returned as chief minister.

The Dark Horse Strategy of BJP

In 2023, before the Lok Sabha polls 2024, the BJP picked Vishnu Deo Sai as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Mohan Yadav for Madhya Pradesh and Bhajan Lal Sharma for Rajasthan. All three were not prominent figures. They replace political stalwarts such as Shivraj Singh Chouhan (MP), Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), and Raman Singh (Chhattisgarh).

Picking a dark horse is often seen as a strategy comprising a combination of factors such as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal, a better blend of caste equations, and recognition of the contributions of the party’s grassroots workers. The BJP kept caste equations in mind in picking the CMs of MP, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan.

Rekha Gupta Playbook

Rekha Gupta is the fourth woman CM of Delhi. She is the only woman CM among all NDA-ruled states currently. Delhi’s last BJP chief minister before Rekha Gupta was also a woman – late Sushma Swaraj. However, Swaraj assumed the top post in 1998 with a few days left of the five-year term (1993-1998). Sushma, who later became the Union External Affairs Minister, was the chief minister for just 52 days.

Delhi’s other two women CMswere Congress veteran Sheila Dikshit and AAP leader Atishi, Rekha’s predecessor.

Oftentimes, BJP’s political messaging in picking a dark horse is linked to PM Narendra Modi’s journey – from a humble tea seller to RSS Pracharak to Prime Minister of India.

“By picking Rekha Gupta, the BJP has not just elevated an unassuming leader which has been its strategy, it has also targetted Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party by picking up a woman from baniya (trader community) that Kejriwal belongs to. Like Kejriwal, Rekha is also born in Haryana,” political analyst Amitabh Tiwari told LiveMint. 

Rekha Gupta: The RSS roots

Rekha Gupta’s appointment also reinforces the significance that members of ABVP, the RSS-affiliated student wing, get in BJP’s scheme of things.

A former DUSU President representing ABVP, Rekha Gupta now aligns with stalwarts such as Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP President JP Nadda, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari.

“If you look at BJP manifesto, it has many women-centric schemes including the ₹2500 per month. A women CM can come in handy in implementing those,” Tiwari said. 

A law graduate from Delhi University with strong RSS roots is making her debut in the Assembly. Gupta, who hails from the Baniya community, entered politics as an ABVP member in 1992. Born in Haryana’s Julana, she has had an association with the RSS for about three decades and is a former Delhi civic councillor.