BJP Springs Another Surprise, Picks First-Time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma As Rajasthan CM

Jaipur: The BJP on Tuesday named Bhajan Lal Sharma, first-time MLA from Sanganer assembly constituency, as the chief minister of Rajasthan, where it returned to power with a thumping majority in the recently concluded elections.

Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa have been picked as the deputy chief ministers while Vasudev Devnani will be the new Rajasthan Assembly Speaker, according to media reports.

Former CM Vasundhara Raje, who was the frontrunner for the post, proposed Sharma’s name before the MLAs and the three central observers, led by defence minister Rajnath Singh, who arrived in Jaipur this afternoon to oversee the legislature party meeting.

The BJP won 115 of 199 seats in the state.

Sharma, 56, won the Sanganer Assembly by defeating Pushpendra Bhardwaj of Congres by 48,081 votes. He has served as the State General Secretary for the BJP four times. He has also been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP).

Sharma’s elevation came a day after the party pulled off a surprise in Madhya Pradesh, picking 58-year-old OBC leader and third-time MLA, Mohan Yadav, to succeed four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. The saffron party had earlier picked tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai, Sai, a four-time MP and a three-time MLA and also a minister in the Modi government in 2014, as CM of Chhattisgarh.

The BJP had won three of five states which went to polls in November.