By IANS,
New Delhi : Sheila Dikshit, who defeated anti-incumbency predictions to steer the Congress to a win in the Nov 29 assembly elections, took oath as Delhi chief minister for a third consecutive term Wednesday.
Amidst loud slogans of “Congress Zindabad” and “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”, Dikshit beamed with confidence as Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna administered the oath of office and secrecy at his official residence Raj Niwas.
Hundreds of Congress supporters were present at the oath-taking ceremony.
Dikshit’s council of ministers also took oath on the occasion – A.K. Walia, Rajkumar Chauhan, Arvinder Singh Lovely, Mangat Ram Singhal, Haroon Yusuf and Kiran Walia.
Kiran Walia is the only new face in the cabinet. She replaces Yoganand Shastri, who was the health minister in Dikshit’s previous cabinet.
While A.K. Walia, Lovely and Singhal took oath in English, Kiran Walia and Rajkumar Chauhan took it in Hindi, and Haroon Yusuf in Urdu.
In 2003, Shastri had fought from the Malviya Nagar constituency but this time around Kiran Walia got a ticket from the place as her Hauz Khas constituency ceased to exist after delimitation.
Shastri had to shift to Mehrauli constituency this time but still won.
The Congress won 43 seats in the 70-member Delhi assembly and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) 23. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won two seats. One seat each went to the Lok Janshakti Party and an independent.