India: Bhajan Lal Sharma named Rajasthan's new chief minister

Bhajan Lal Sharma has been named as the new Chief Minister of the Indian state of Rajasthan by the country's ruling party BJP on Tuesday (Dec 12).

The decision was taken at Bharatiya Janata Party's state headquarters, in the presence of BJP central observers for Rajasthan, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, national vice president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde.

Earlier in the day, Singh said that Bhajanlal Sharma has been elected as the leader of the Rajasthan BJP Legislature Party.

"Bhajanlal Sharma has been elected as the leader of the Rajasthan BJP Legislature Party. There will be two Deputy CMs- Diya Singh and Dr Prem Chand Bairwa. Vasudev Devnani to be the Speaker," Singh said.

Sharma, after being appointed, asserted that the state government would ensure the holistic development of Rajasthan in the coming years.

"I would like to assure you that all the MLAs of Rajasthan will definitely meet the expectations that the people have with us, with the BJP. Under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi, we will ensure holistic development of Rajasthan in all areas," he said on Tuesday.

Rajasthan BJP leader Dr Kirodi Lal Meena said that he was delighted that Vasundhara Raje proposed Sharma's name and expressed confidence in the CM designate saying that he would take the state ahead.

"I am very happy. He will take the state ahead. His name was proposed by Vasundhara ji and I forwarded the name...I am not in line for a ministerial post," he added.

Sharma meets Rajasthan Governor

Sharma met Governor Kalraj Mishra in Jaipur and staked claim to form the government.

He was accompanied by both the deputy CMs, Bairwa and Kumari.

Sharma won the Sanganer assembly seat with an exceptional margin, grabbing 145,162 votes against his opponent from Indian National Congress (INC), Pushpendra Bhardwaj, who managed to secure 97,081 votes.

(With inputs from agency)