New Delhi (Agency): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday named Bhajanlal Sharma as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Vidyadhar Nagar MLA Diya Kumari and Dudu MLA Prem Chand Bairwa will be deputy CMs, while Ajmer North MLA Vasudev Devnani will be the Assembly Speaker.
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 Vasundhara 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 Defence Minister 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.
Sharma, 56, is a first-time MLA from Sanganer Assembly in Jaipur. He had defeated Pushpendra Bhardwauj of Congress by 48,081 votes.
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.
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. (Courtesy: The Indian Express)
