First-time BJP MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma, picked by the party on December 12 in a surprise move to head its government in Rajasthan, has surpassed several veteran leaders to become the 14th Chief Minister of the State after maintaining a low profile despite having served the party and its front organisations for more than three decades.
The BJP has selected an upper caste Brahmin face in Rajasthan after appointing new faces belonging to a tribal community and an Other Backward Class (OBC) in two other States, where it won the recent Assembly elections. The BJP has selected a tribal leader, Vishnu Deo Sai, in Chhattisgarh and an OBC Yadav politician, Mohan Yadav, in Madhya Pradesh ostensibly with an eye on the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
Mr. Sharma, 56, one of the longest serving BJP leaders who has been the party’s State general secretary for four times, was fielded from Jaipur district’s Sanganer Assembly seat in the election after denial of ticket to sitting MLA Ashok Lahoti. He defeated Congress candidate Pushpendra Bhardwaj with a margin of 48,081 votes.
The Chief Minister-designate hails from Atari village in Bharatpur district’s Nadbai tehsil, where he joined Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) students wing, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), during his schooling. He became close to the RSS while working as an ABVP functionary in various capacities, including as its district head.
Kashmir March
As a student leader, Mr. Sharma took part in the ABVP’s Kashmir March in 1990 and courted arrest in Udhampur along with 100 other activists. Later, he went to jail in Ayodhya in 1992 during the Ram Janmabhoomi agitation, in which the Babri Masjid was demolished.
According to the information given in his election affidavit, Mr. Sharma holds a post-graduate degree in political science from the University of Rajasthan and is engaged in agriculture as well as the business of supply of minerals. His father, Kishan Swaroop Sharma, is a farmer.
Mr. Sharma obtained the membership of BJP’s youth wing, Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), in 1991-92 and served as its Bharatpur district unit president thrice. He became a Sarpanch for the first time at the age of 27 and had two consecutive terms. He also served as a Panchayat Samiti member.
Mr. Sharma was appointed the BJP district secretary after working with the BJYM for several years. He later went on to become the BJP district unit president, State unit vice-president and State general secretary in charge of headquarters, a post which he held when he was elected the BJP legislature party leader on Tuesday.
The Sanganer Assembly seat, which Mr. Sharma won by polling 1,45,162 votes comprising 58.44% of the ballot, has been a BJP stronghold since 2003. Veteran BJP leader and Rajya Sabha Member Ghanshyam Tiwari won the seat thrice, while Congress leader and former Minister Indira Mayaram was elected from there in 1993 and 1998 following three terms of BJP’s Vidya Pathak.
Mr. Sharma had initially sought a ticket from Bharatpur for the 2023 Assembly election, but he was not considered for any of the constituencies in the district because of low probability of a higher caste leader’s victory in the eastern Rajasthan region dominated by Dalits and OBCs. He is known in the BJP circles for his command on the organisational matters.
