The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, 12 December, announced Bhajanlal Sharma as the new chief minister of Rajasthan.
"A meeting of the MLAs was called to decide on the Legislative Party Leader. The proposal to appoint Bhajanlal Sharma was presented by former CM and BJP national vice president Vasundhara Raje. Everybody agreed upon the name unanimously," Union Minister Rajnath Singh, also the central observer for the state, told the media on Tuesday.
Who is Bhajanlal Sharma?: Sharma is a first-time MLA from Sanganer.
A four-time state general secretary for the BJP, he won the Sanganer Assembly election against Congress' Pushpendra Bhardwaj with a margin of 48,081 votes on 3 December.
File photo of Bhajanlal Sharma
(Photo: Twitter/Bhajanlal Sharma)
Who are the deputy chief ministers?: Singh also announced Vidhyadhar Nagar MLA Diya Kumari and Dudu MLA Premchand Bairwa as deputy chief ministers, and Ajmer North MLA Vasudev Devnani as the Assembly Speaker.
While Kumari was formerly the Lok Sabha MP from Rajasmand, Devnani has been the school education minister in both Raje cabinets of 2003 and 2013.
What Sharma said after appointment: Thanking PM Modi, Raje, and all central observers, Sharma said: "I want to assure that all MLAs will fulfill the wishes of Rajasthan by taking the path shown by PM Modi," he said.
All leaders later met Governor Kalraj Mishra to stake claim to form the government.
The announcement came days after the party swept the Assembly elections in Rajasthan by winning 115 seats.
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