New Delhi, Dec 17 (IANS) Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit Wednesday presided over the first meeting of the newly constituted cabinet at the Delhi Secretariat and stated that her government would give due stress on continuity of development in the national capital.
“All my ministerial colleagues have resolved to strive hard to fulfil aspirations of people who have given a resounding mandate,” Dikshit told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
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.
Earlier in the day, Dikshit and the six other ministers – A.K. Walia, Haroon Yusuf, Mangat Ram Singhal, Raj Kumar Chauhan, Arvinder Singh Lovely and Kiran Walia – were administered the oaths of office and secrecy by Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna in a ceremony at Raj Niwas. Kiran Walia is a new entrant to the cabinet.
The cabinet also decided to recommend to the lt governor to convene the first session of the fourth legislative assembly from Dec 18 to 23.
The governor appointed Bharatiya Janata Party leader and the senior member in the legislative assembly Jagdish Mukhi as pro-tem speaker. Mukhi was also administered the oath by him.
The pro-tem speaker would first administer oath of membership to Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit in the house followed by other elected members.
“On Dec 18, the Pro-tem Speaker Jagdish Mukhi would administer oath of membership to the newly elected members of the legislative assembly,” Dikshit stated.
The speaker of the assembly would be elected Dec 19 in the assembly.
Rumours are doing the rounds that Yoganand Shastri, the health minister in the previous cabinet, will be elected as the speaker of the newly elected assembly. Khanna would deliver his address Dec 22 in the assembly.