NEW DELHI: Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Saturday said she shares a brother-sister bond with her Cabinet colleague Parvesh Verma, son of former chief minister late Sahib Singh Verma.
Pointing out that it didn’t matter who held the chief minister’s chair, Gupta vowed to fulfil the late BJP leader’s dreams for Delhi together with Parvesh Verma.
After paying tributes to Sahib Singh Verma on his 82nd birth anniversary at his memorial in Mundka, Gupta said Parvesh Verma could also have been made the chief minister and she a minister, and things would have been just the same for her.
“In Indian society, the elder sister is often entrusted with responsibility first,” Gupta said, welcoming the fact that the “sister” is now the chief minister of Delhi, while the “brother” is serving as a minister.
The BJP won the February 5 Assembly polls to end the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and form a government in the capital after more than 26 years.
After the announcement of election results on February 8, Parvesh Verma was seen as a front-runner for the chief minister’s post.
Gupta, who was flanked by Parvesh Verma, said she shared a brother-sister bond with the BJP leader, adding that while one of Sahib Singh Verma’s children was the chief minister, the other was a minister.
Gupta also praised the late leader’s contributions to Delhi’s development and expressed her commitment to carry forward his work.
“We will work together like a brother and sister to carry forward the unfinished work of Sahib Singh Verma,” Gupta said, describing the late leader as a guiding force in everyone’s life, including her own.
Recalling an incident, Gupta said when she became the president of Delhi University Students Union (DUSU), Sahib Singh, who was the chief minister at the time, called her to congratulate and encourage her.
Highlighting his father’s vision for long-term development projects, Parvesh Verma said, “We aim to undertake work that will be beneficial not just for five years but for the next 50 years.”
Born on March 15, 1943, in Mundka village, Sahib Singh Verma served as the fourth chief minister of Delhi from February 27, 1996, to October 12, 1998.
He passed away on June 30, 2007, at the age of 64.
