Bhajanlal Sharma sworn in as Rajasthan CM, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa as his deputies

Jaipur: First-time legislator Bhajanlal Sharma was sworn in as the 14th Chief Minister of Rajasthan, the largest state of India, at a grandiose oath-taking ceremony in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jaipur today.

The ceremony was held at Ramniwas Bagh in front of the city’s iconic landmark, Albert Hall Museum, built in 1876, to commemorate the visit of Prince of Wales, Albert Edward. The ceremony also saw the swearing-in of two deputy chief ministers, Diya Kumari, MLA from Jaipur’s Vidyadhar Nagar constituency and Dr Prem Chand Bairwa, MLA from Dudu constituency.

This is the first time that Prime Minister Modi has graced the swearing-in function for a BJP Chief Minister in Rajasthan. Three huge stages were built, one for the CM-designate, other for the VIP ministers and dignitaries and the third one for religious leaders. Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath of office to the newly appointed Chief Minister and his two deputies.

Thousands of BJP supporters and common people gathered to witness the historic occasion, wherein a new face was set to take over the reins of the state. BJP supporters expressed satisfaction that a simple BJP worker has been recognised and elevated to the top post, reassuring them that all workers are taken care of in the party.

In the last 25 years, the state has been seeing the faces of Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Congress Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot revolving after every five years.

The place wore a festive look and the police force was present in large numbers to man the crowd.

Union Ministers including Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Hardeep Puri, Anurag Thakur, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Nityanand Rai, S P Singh Baghel, and Mansukh Mandaviya were present during the ceremony. Chief Ministers like Yogi Adityanath from Uttar Pradesh, Bhupendra Bhai Patel from Gujarat, Mohan Lal Khattar from Haryana, Vishnu Deo Sai from Chhattisgarh, Mohan Yadav from Madhya Pradesh, Eknath Shinde from Maharashtra, Hemanta Biswa Sarma from Assam, Pema Khandu from Arunachal Pradesh, Pramod Sawant from Goa, Manik Saha from Tripura and N Biren Singh from Manipur all graced the occasion. Former chief ministers Raje and Gehlot were also present to congratulate Bhajanlal.

Bhajanlal Sharma, 56, is a first time MLA from Jaipur’s Sanganer constituency and belongs to the Brahmin community. Incidentally, today is his 56th birthday as well. He would be the sixth Brahmin chief minister of the state.

His name came as a surprise to both him and most legislators when it was announced on December 12 in the legislature party meeting headed by central observers including Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. He bypassed many senior leaders like Raje, Union Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Ashwini Vaishnav, and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.

Hailing from Atari village in Nadbai tehsil in Bharatpur district on the state’s eastern fringe, Bhajanlal was looking for a ticket from constituencies in Bharatpur but he was given a safe seat Sanganer, which has been a BJP stronghold for long. He won by a margin of over 48,000 votes.

He, however, had lost his first Assembly contest in 2003 when he fought on a Rajasthan Samajik Nyaya Manch ticket. He was said to have been suspended from the party then.

An MA in political science, he started off with student politics, worked with Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, where he came in contact with BJP state president J P Nadda. He was the state BJP general secretary in charge of the party headquarters in Jaipur. Starting off as a sarpanch, he became the BJP’s Bharatpur district unit president.

He also developed close links with the RSS and has been working behind the scenes to strengthen the party and organisation. He developed close ties with Amit Shah when he was made to look after 34 seats during the West Bengal elections in 2021. BJP top brass has been tracking his work and dedication and he has been in their good books for quite a while, say party sources. However, with no experience in governance, it remains to be seen how the Chief Minister handles his new role.