Shalimar Bagh basks in the glory of MLA becoming CM

All roads in Shalimar Bagh turned saffron on Thursday, as the assembly constituency in northwest Delhi celebrated the elevation of Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's) Rekha Gupta—the local legislator and a three-time councillor from the area—as the Capital's ninth chief minister.

- Hemani Bhandari

NEW DELHI:

Shalimar Bagh, as a constituency, is a mixture of people from all strata of society—there are the relatively upscale neighbourhoods of Shalimar Bagh (where Gupta herself lives) and Pitampura, and there are the urban villages of Shalimar village and Haiderpur.

On Thursday, residents from all these areas were filled with pride, as nearly every building had a poster congratulating the new CM.

Delighted though the residents were, there was a nagging question at the back of everyone's mind—will Gupta, after moving to a government-allotted bungalow, continue to pay special attention to the area? Gupta is very popular in the area—she won the assembly seat by more than 20,000 votes—and known as a very people-friendly leader.