Rajasthan CM-designate Bhajan Lal Sharma to take oath on Dec 15

Rajasthan Chief Minister-designate Bhajanlal Sharma, along with his two deputies will take the oath of office on Friday (December 15) at Albert Hall, Ramniwas Bagh, in Jaipur, state BJP chief CP Joshi said on Wednesday. The party-picked legislators Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa will be sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers, and the former state minister Vasudev Devnani will take the oath of Assembly Speaker, said CP Joshi. According to party sources, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Amit Shah, and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh are also expected to attend the ceremony, with invitations extended to senior leaders and chief ministers from various states. After days of suspense, the BJP on Tuesday picked Bhajanlal Sharma, a first-time MLA from the Sanganer assembly constituency, as the chief minister of Rajasthan. Later, Sharma, accompanied by two deputy chief ministers, namely Prem Chand Bairwa and Diya Kumari, met Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra in Jaipur and staked a claim to form the government. Bhajanlal Sharma belongs to Rajasthan’s eastern district, Bharatpur and is considered to have strong backing from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He is at present the BJP’s state general secretary and holds a master’s degree in political science. He won the Sanganer assembly seat by an impressive margin, securing 145,162 votes against his Indian National Congress (INC) opponent, Pushpendra Bhardwaj, who polled 97,081 votes. @@@