 "Bhajan lal Sharma")
In an outreach to the upper castes, especially Brahmins, in the Hindi heartland, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday picked Bhajan Lal Sharma, a first-time legislator, as its chief minister-designate in Rajasthan. The party said Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa will be the two deputy chief ministers and senior leader Vasudev Devnani the Speaker of the Assembly.
On Sunday, the BJP announced Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal, as its Chhattisgarh CM. On Monday, it announced Mohan Yadav, from the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), to helm its Madhya Pradesh government and struck a balance with an upper caste CM-designate in Sharma in Rajasthan.
The announcement of Sharma’s name ended the suspense over the BJP’s choice of chief ministers in the three Hindi heartland 10 days after the election results were declared on December 3. The BJP followed its ‘UP formula’ of appointing two deputy CMs in Rajasthan, as it did in Chhattisgarh on Sunday and Madhya Pradesh on Monday.
While Sharma won his first Assembly election from Sanganer in the recently concluded Assembly polls, he contested as a rebel BJP candidate in 2003 from the Nadbai seat in Bharatpur, representing the Rajasthan Samajik Nyaya Manch. The Manch, formed in the run-up to the 2003 Assembly polls, demanded quotas for the poor among the upper castes, especially Brahmins and Rajputs. Sharma forfeited his election deposit in that election, garnering 5,969 votes.
Akin to the party’s other two chief ministerial picks — Sai and Yadav — Sharma also has deep roots in the Sangh Parivar, having spent several years as an activist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s students wing, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad. According to sources, Sharma, 56, was arrested in 1992 during the Ram Janmabhoomi movement.
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The party announced his name as the leader of the BJP legislature party after a meeting of its MLAs. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje proposed Sharma’s name with senior leaders, such as Kirodi Lal Meena, Devnani, and others seconding it. Of the two deputy CMs, Kumari, (51), from the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, is a second-term MLA and one-term Lok Sabha member, is a Rajput. Bairwa, 54, the other deputy CM, is from the Scheduled Castes. Kumari won the Assembly elections from Jaipur’s Vidyadhar Nagar seat, and quit her Rajsamand Lok Sabha seat. Bairwa, a doctorate, is a second-term MLA from the Dudu Assembly constituency. Devnani, (77), a retired polytechnic lecturer, who hails from the Sindhi community, is a fourth-term legislator from the Ajmer North seat. The BJP’s picks as the Speakers for MP and Chhattisgarh are also senior leaders, Narendra Singh Tomar and Raman Singh, respectively.
Appointing Sharma as the CM-elect is the BJP’s attempt to consolidate its support among the Brahmins in northern India. Currently, none of the BJP’s chief ministers across the Hindi heartland states, Gujarat and its alliance government in Maharashtra, are Brahmins. The BJP tried to balance the caste equation in UP, where Brahmins comprise 10-12 per cent, by appointing Brajesh Pathak as the deputy to CM Yogi Adityanath in March 2022. On Sunday, it announced Vijay Sharma as one of the two deputies of its Chhattisgarh CM-designate, and in Madhya Pradesh, Rajendra Shukla will be one of the two deputy CMs.
Sharma is currently the BJP’s state general secretary, a post he has held for nearly a decade. He has a master’s degree in political science and runs a business. According to sources, Sharma has a good rapport with BJP’s National President JP Nadda. He began his political career as the sarpanch of his village, Atari, in the Bharatpur district in 1989. Congress’ Hari Dev Joshi was the last Brahmin chief minister of Rajasthan (1989-90).
