Jaipur: The BJP threw yet another surprise by naming newbie MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as the new Rajasthan Chief Minister on Tuesday. Sharma, 56, is a first-time MLA from Sanganer constituency where he polled 145162 votes in the recent Assembly elections beating Congress candidate Pushpendra Bhardwaj by over 48,000 votes. In the party, he is serving as State General Secretary, Rajasthan.
A resident of Bharatpur, Sharma has been associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) right from his teenage days and has carried a relatively low-key profile throughout his tenure at the BJP's parent organisation. Allegations of him being an outsider were made by the Congress during the Sanganer polls. However, despite this, Sharma emerged victorious by a considerable margin.
An organisation man, Sharma is also among the longest-serving general secretaries of the BJP in the state and has been an important part of the BJP's organisational structure in Rajasthan. He has served as the BJP general secretary for four times.
Making him Rajasthan Chief Minister is a calculated move as the BJP hits two birds with one stone -- one: reward a loyal RSS worker, and two: bring in a fresh Brahmin face that balances out the other two Chief Ministers the party named in Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.
His appointment is being seen as BJP's outreach to the Brahmin community in Rajasthan who comprise around seven per cent of the population in the desert state. In 2008, Sharma contested the elections as an independent candidate, but this time BJP itself vacated the Sanganer seat and fielded him. He was most in the news when he was seen chatting with PM Modi in a meeting.
Picking Sharma was most surprising as the saffron party chose him amid a battery of senior leaders including Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ashwini Vaishnaw, former CM Vasundhara Raje, Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore and Baba Balaknath.
The announcement was made after the legislature party meeting held at the state BJP headquarters where Raje proposed Bhajan Lal Sharma's name and all the MLAs unanimously agreed to it. BJP named Rajasthan CM-designate 10 days after the poll results were announced on December 3. The three observers of the party, Union Minister Rajnath Singh, BJP leaders Vinod Tawde and Saroj Pandey, Vasundhara Raje, BJP State President CP Joshi and all other senior leaders of the party were present on the occasion.
Sharma did his M.A (Political Science) from Rajasthan University, Jaipur in 1993. In his self-declaration ahead of the polls, he had claimed assets worth Rs 1.46 crore. One criminal case under Section 353 (Assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and Section 149 (Every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) is registered against him with charges framed back in 2015.
In all three states, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, where BJP won the recent Assembly Polls, the party has preferred lesser-known leaders over bigwigs surprising all and sundry. Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal leader, Mohan Yadav, an OBC leader, and Bhajan Lal Sharma, a Brahmin and first-time MLA, are BJP's Chief Ministers for Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Rajasthan respectively.
Making relatively younger party leaders as Chief Ministers is considered by many as part of the saffron party's strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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