BJP leader Bhajanlal Sharma takes oath as Rajasthan CM

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP)'s first-time MLA Bhajanlal Sharma on Friday took oath as Rajasthan Chief Minister in Jaipur. JP leaders Prem Chand Bairwa, and Diya Kumari also took oath as Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan, in the presence of PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and other senior leaders. 

All three will be administered the oath of office by Governor Kalraj Mishra.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Tripura CM Manik Saha, Union Ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Nitin Gadkari, former Rajasthan CM Ashok Ghlot, Vasundhara Raje, Goa CM Pramod Sawant, Tripura CM Manik Saha, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Gujarat CM Bhupendra Patel, and other leaders are present at the swearing-in ceremony in Jaipur.

Massive security and sitting arrangements have been made at the venue where a large number of people are likely to witness the ceremony. All main roads leading to the venue have been decorated with posters and banners of various central government welfare schemes as well as the leaders' cutouts.

A party spokesperson said invitations have been sent to central leaders and state chief ministers for the ceremony.

Bhajanlal Sharma, a first-time MLA, was on Tuesday announced as the chief minister-designate during a BJP Legislature Party meeting in the presence of the party's central observers Rajnath Singh, Saroj Pandey, and Vinod Tawde.

Vidhyadhar Nagar MLA Diya Kumari and Dudu MLA Bairwa were announced as the picks for deputy chief ministers and Ajmer North MLA Vasudev Devnani was speaker of the assembly.

Bhajanlal Sharma belongs to Rajasthan's eastern district, Bharatpur, and is considered to have strong backing from Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. Currently, he is 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.

The BJP won 115 seats in the November 25 assembly elections while the Congress got 69 seats. Polling was held on 199 of the 200 assembly seats in the state.