The BJP leadership on Wednesday picked first-time MLA Rekha Gupta as the chief minister of Delhi, sweeping aside the claims of seasoned party leaders in the capital and underscoring the high command culture.

The choice reflected a replay of what had happened in bigger states such as Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in 2023 where low-profile leaders were elevated by sidelining stalwarts such as Vasundhara Raje Scindia and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

The party leadership, however, maintained that picking Gupta was a “masterstroke” by Modi.

They said Gupta’s selection ticked two key political boxes — a woman chief minister and a leader hailing from the Bania (trader) community.

Party leaders justified the choice by claiming that AAP boss Arvind Kejriwal, a Bania, used to wean away the otherwise BJP-loyal community in large numbers in Assembly polls.

The BJP did not have any serving woman chief minister before Gupta’s selection. Party leaders said the BJP needed a woman to head a state at a time when the “mahila” vote bank was being touted as a big game changer and Modi had been claiming credit for the passage of the women’s reservation bill in Parliament.

BJP insiders said Gupta’s name was selected by Modi at the party’s parliamentary board meeting on Wednesday. The decision was endorsed at the meeting of the newly elected MLAs at the Delhi BJP office in the evening.

Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, who defeated Kejriwal from the New Delhi seat and was considered the strongest claimant to the chief minister’s post, was made to propose Gupta’s name at the MLAs’ meeting. The name was seconded by another front-runner, Vijender Gupta, a seasoned Delhi BJP leader.

“It is a matter of happiness,” Verma told reporters after the MLAs’ meeting.

Gupta, who had lost the last municipal corporation elections, was elected as a first-time MLA from the Shalimar Bagh seat in north Delhi.

She is a former president of the Delhi University Students’ Union. The law graduate of Delhi University had entered politics as an Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) member in 1992.

The choice of a low-profile leader as the chief minister suits the Centre as Delhi lieutenant governor V.K. Saxena, who hails from Gujarat, is known to be close to both Modi and home minister Amit Shah.

The new BJP government led by Gupta will be sworn in at a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan on Thursday in the presence of the Prime Minister and other dignitaries.

Apart from NDA chief ministers, filmstars, industrialists and religious heads, the list of invitees for the oath-taking ceremony also includes auto drivers, gig workers, farmers and slum dwellers to underline the BJP’s commitment to the “aam aadmi”.

Gupta will be the fourth woman chief minister of the capital after Sushma Swaraj, Sheila Dikshit and Atishi.