India News | Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, Cabinet Ministers Perform Yamuna Aarti at Vasudev Ghat

New Delhi, Feb 20 (PTI) Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta performed 'Yamuna Aarti' along with her cabinet colleagues at Vasudev Ghat on Thursday soon after formally taking charge as the ninth CM of the national capital at the Secretariat.

The pollution in the Yamuna river and cleaning it had become a major issue between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on the one side and opposition parties BJP and Congress on the other during the run-up to the Delhi Assembhly elections. AAP convener and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was attacked by both the BJP and the Congress over the highly polluted Yamuna.

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Gupta, along with Delhi BJP state president Virendra Sachdeva and her cabinet colleagues — Parvesh Sahib Singh, Asish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra and Pankaj Kumar Singh — performed 'Maa Yamuna puja' before conducting aarti ahead of the first cabinet meeting.

Ram bhajans were played at the ghat, and slogans of "Jai Shree Ram" and "Yamuna Maiya Ki Jai" were raised.

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Earlier in the day, Gupta, the first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh, was administered oath as the chief minister by Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena in a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan. Her council of ministers was also sworn in.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP's top brass, including Union ministers Amit Shah, J P Nadda and Rajnath Singh, and the chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of several NDA-ruled states, attended the ceremony.

Later, Gupta reached the Delhi Secretariat to take charge as the chief minister of Delhi. She was accompanied by party leaders, including state BJP in-charge Baijayant Panda and state president Virendra Sachdeva among others.

New members of her council of ministers including Parvesh Verma, Manjinder Singh Sirsa and Kapil Mishra were also present at the Delhi Secretariat.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)