The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday picked Bhajan Lal Sharma as the new Rajasthan chief minister a day after the party implemented a generational shift in Madhya Pradesh. A first-time lawmaker from Sanganer, Sharma is the general secretary of the BJP in the state.
Sharma was picked a day after the BJP named three-time lawmaker Mohan Yadav, 58, as the chief minister, replacing Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who ruled the central Indian state for 16 of the last 18 years over four terms.
In Chhattisgarh, the third heartland state where the BJP stormed to power on December 1, the party named experienced tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai as the chief minister.
Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bhairwa were named Sharma’s deputy at the BJP’s legislature party which met in Jaipur in the presence of central observers including Union minister Rajnath Singh. Former minister Vasudev Devnani was nominated for the assembly speaker’s post.
The party fought the latest round of elections without projecting chief ministerial faces for the first time in nearly two decades and focussed on collective leadership.