First-time BJP MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma to be new Raj CM; state to have two Dy CMs
Ending days of speculation, the BJP named first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister. The surprise choice was announced after BJP MLAs met in Jaipur and elected the 56-year-old MLA from Sanganer as the leader of its legislature party after the saffron party's victory in the assembly polls.
Ending days of speculation, the BJP named first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister. The surprise choice was announced after BJP MLAs met in Jaipur and elected the 56-year-old MLA from Sanganer as the leader of its legislature party after the saffron party's victory in the assembly polls.
Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa will be the deputy chief ministers and Vasudev Devnani the Speaker of the state assembly, said senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh, who led a team of three party central observers to oversee the meeting, where Sharma's name was proposed by former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, who was herself eyeing the top post.
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed Sharma, who belongs to Bharatpur district, won the Sanganer constituency with a margin of 48,081 votes. He is at present the BJP's state general secretary.
Diya Kumari (51), a member of the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, is a two-time MLA and one-time MP. She became an MLA for the first time in 2013 from the Sawai Madhopur assembly seat and was said to be among the frontrunners for the post of chief minister. In 2019, she was elected as an MP from Rajsamand.
54-year-old Bairwa, who was declared deputy chief minister along with Kumari, is a Dalit face in the BJP, who won from Dudu constituency.
The BJP won 115 seats in the assembly elections, while the Congress got 69 seats. Elections were held on 199 of the 200 seats in the state as polling in Karanpur was deferred due to the death of Congress candidate and sitting MLA Gurmeet Singh Koonar.
