Rajasthan finally has a CM; first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma grabs top spot [details]

Who'll be the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan? This question plagued BJP ever since the party secured the majority mark in the Assembly Elections 2023, with many equating delay with friction and indecisiveness within the party lines. On Tuesday, at the legislature party meeting scheduled for 4 pm, the party announced Bhajan Lal Sharma as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

Behind the decision

Defense Minister Rajnath Singh reached Jaipur for the meet, along with two co-observers, one being the national vice-president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde. It was made compulsory for all the newly elected MLAs to attend the meeting. Many names like Mahant Balaknath, Ashwini Vaishnaw had been floating and doing the rounds ever since the results were declared on December 3. The party workers started gathering outside the BJP office in Rajasthan much ahead of the announcement.

Nominations begin for Karanpur constituency

Meanwhile, the nominations for the Karanpur seat of Rajasthan began on Tuesday and will continue till December 19. The seat fell vacant and polling for the constituency was adjourned due to the demise of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Kooner. The voting for the last constituency of Rajasthan is scheduled for January 5.

Who is Bhajan Lal Sharma? 

Hitherto unknown on the national political scene, Bhajan Lal Sharma is a first time MLA from the Sanganer assembly constituency and the decision to appoint him as the CM took many by surprise, but not those within the party circles.

Reportedly, Sharma's name was proposed by Vasundhara Raje at the legislature meeting. Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa have been named as Deputy CMs, while MLA Vasudev Devnani will be the new Rajasthan Assembly Speaker. Soon after the announcement, several social media pages started the rumours of favouritism as Sharma is said to be close to his RSS top bosses and his mentor JP Nadda.

During his first media interaction after being named as CM, Bhajan Lal said, "I would like to assure you that all the MLAs of Rajasthan will definitely meet the expectations that the people have of the BJP. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi we will ensure holistic development of Rajasthan in all areas."

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