BJP names first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma as Rajasthan’s next Chief Minister
Rajasthan,Dec 12 : In another unexpected development, the BJP named Bhajanlal Sharma, a legislator representing the Sanganer Assembly constituency, as the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Sharma is a first-time MLA from the Sangeer constituency in Jaipur. He defeated Pushpendra Bhardwaj of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 48,081 votes in the recently concluded assembly elections.
There were many speculations around who will be the Rajasthan CM, but the party high command finally decided to hand over the post to a Brahmin face.
BJP names first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma as Rajasthan’s next Chief Minister
Rajasthan,Dec 12 : Diya Kumari and Premchand Bairwa will be the Deputy Chief Ministers. Vasudev Devnani will be the Assembly Speaker.
Bhajanlal Sharma has served as the general secretary of the party under three state presidents. He has also been the president of district morcha in Bharatpur.
Diya Kumari won from the Vidyadhar Nagar seat of Jaipur, while Premchand Bairwa is the MLA from Dudu in Jaipur district.
The 56-year-old Sharma’s surprise ascent comes after the saffron party named Mohan Yadav, a state cabinet minister and three-time MLA, as the next Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on Monday. Yadav succeeded Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the party’s longest-serving CM.
Sharma’s elevation was a shocker as former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw were said to be among the frontrunners for the Chief Minister’s post in Rajasthan, one of three states that the BJP won in the recent elections.
The team of BJP observers who oversaw the legislature party meeting that named Sharma as the CM choice in Jaipur was led by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. Vinod Tawde and Saroj Pandey and Union Minister Pralhad Joshi, the BJP in-charge for Rajasthan, were the other observers.
Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje proposed Bhajanlal Sharma’s name at the meeting and it was unanimously approved by the rest of the members.
In the recent Rajasthan assembly polls, the BJP won 115 seats out of 199, leading to the ouster of the incumbent Ashok Gehlot government, while the Congress clinched 69 seats.
-PTI
