Delhi CM Rekha Gupta shuts down trolls after backlash on AQI gaffe: ‘They don’t like 24/7 working Chief Minister'

Rekha Gupta shut down trolls who made “cheap comments” about her Air Quality Index (AQI) gaffe. Speaking in the Delhi Assembly on Friday, she said they do not like a Chief Minister who works around the clock and added that she had accidentally misspoken. She said it was a mistake that anyone can make while speaking.

“They don't like the fact that a woman Chief Minister is working 24/7. They make fun of the words I accidentally utter. Anyone can make mistakes while speaking or mispronounce certain words. I made a mistake. But you did things deliberately,” ANI quoted Gupta as saying.

She mentioned, “Sometimes they would say something to hurt (my) dignity, make cheap comments, level baseless allegations, and go after my words... They would say ‘AQI was uttered as AIQ'.”

Rekha Gupta slams AAP

She said that in her speech she had mistakenly referred to Congress instead of the British, and alleged that the remark was taken out of context and turned into social media reels. She maintained that such verbal slips can happen to anyone, adding that while her error was unintentional, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had repeatedly and deliberately misled the people of Delhi, according to PTI.

Launching a scathing critique of the previous government, the Chief Minister said that hospital buildings were constructed without proper planning, financial provisions, or approved layouts. As a result, project costs ballooned from ₹200 crore to ₹1,600 crore, and resolving these stalled works has now emerged as a major challenge, with many projects requiring fresh tenders.

She further noted that under the earlier administration, nearly 1.5 lakh properties in Delhi that had been booked were functioning without electricity meters, despite consuming power, leading to widespread theft and corruption. Her government, she said, took a decisive step by ensuring legal electricity connections and installing meters for all such properties.

Meanwhile, Gupta said that in Delhi today, the Central government, the Lieutenant Governor, the Municipal Corporation and various agencies were no longer working at cross purposes but were united in advancing the city’s development.

She said her government had set clear priorities, formulated policies and started working in a planned way with short-, medium- and long-term objectives. She claimed that within just 11 months, the government had managed to change the direction of Delhi, according to a release.

The chief minister said that she, along with her ministers and BJP MLAs, was working tirelessly on the ground to serve the people of Delhi, emphasising that her government was accountable to the public.

(With inputs from agencies)