Bhajanlal Sharma named new Rajasthan Chief Minister

Sharma, Kumari, Bairwa, former CM Vasundhara Raje and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reached Raj Bhawan Tuesday to meet Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra.

The announcement came nine days after the party registered a resounding victory in the Assembly elections, overthrowing the ruling Congress led by Ashok Gehlot. Sharma’s appointment marks an end to a 25-year-old trend where the state only witnessed Gehlot and senior BJP leader Raje taking turns to rule the state.

Sharma was named the chief minister following the BJP legislature party meeting in Jaipur, in the presence of the party’s three central observers led by Rajnath Singh. The two other observers are Vinod Tawde and Saroj Pandey. At the meeting, Raje, who was seated next to Rajnath, had proposed Sharma’s name which was accepted by party MLAs.

Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said that Sharma’s name as the BJP legislative party leader was “unanimously accepted by all the MLAs.” “I am confident that Rajasthan will progress rapidly under the leadership of Bhajanlal Sharma. All the workers have extended their hearty congratulations to him.”

Sharma, 56, is a first-time MLA from Sanganer Assembly in Jaipur. He had defeated Pushpendra Bhardwaj of Congress by 48,081 votes.

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party president J P Nadda, home minister Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and others, CM elect Sharma, in brief remarks, said that, “I want to assure that this Rajasthan team, along with all our MLAs, will carry out all round development of Rajasthan under the leadership of PM Modi.”

Sharma has served as the BJP’s Rajasthan General Secretary four times. He is a MA in politics from Rajasthan University. He has one criminal case registered against him and has assets worth Rs 1.4 crore.

While Sharma is Brahmin by caste, the BJP had named tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai (59) as Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and in Mohan Yadav (58), an OBC, as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister.

Balancing the caste equations here too, apart from a Brahmin CM in Sharma, Diya Kumari is a Rajput and hails from the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, while Bairwa is a Dalit. Vasudev Devnani hails from the Sindhi community and was the Education minister during Vasundhara Raje’s last tenure.

While the BJP had not projected any CM candidate during its Rajasthan campaign, Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw were among the frontrunners for the post.

The BJP won 115 seats out of the 199 that went to polls. Polling was postponed in one constituency due to the death of a candidate.