Rajat Sharma, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India TV.
The selection of Bhajan Lal Sharma for the post of Chief Minister of Rajasthan is surprising because he has become an MLA for the first time. Before this he had neither been a minister nor had the status of a minister. He won the elections for the first time and directly became the Chief Minister of a big state like Rajasthan. However, Bhajan Lal Sharma has a lot of experience in the organization. He had been working in the organization for twenty years, had been the General Secretary of the state four times, but no one had expected that he would be made the Chief Minister on this basis alone. Rajasthan too, like Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, will have two Deputy Chief Ministers, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, while Basudev Devnani will be the Speaker of the Assembly. Till Monday evening I had the information that Diya Kumari’s name had almost been finalized in the BJP meetings in Delhi. The logic behind this was that after women’s reservation, if one woman has to be removed, it would be better to appoint another woman. But on Tuesday morning when it came to solving the caste equations, it was decided that a Brahmin should be made so that no controversy would arise and the caste equations would also remain intact. After this, it was decided to make Diya Kumari as Rajput and Prem Chand Bairwa as Deputy Chief Minister as the face of Dalit society. When the search for a Brahmin leader began, Bhajan Lal Sharma appeared to be the most suitable among the ten MLAs elected this time. It was said that he is a man of organization, he takes everyone along, no one will oppose him, hence Bhajan Lal Sharma got a chance as the Chief Minister. Rajnath Singh reached Jaipur with Modi’s message. He first met Vasundhara Raje and State President CP Joshi, after which he reached BJP office. There he talked to the party MLAs individually, then the legislative party meeting started. Rajnath Singh gave a slip in the hands of Vasundhara Raje. Vasundhara opened the slip and read it, then put on her glasses and looked at it, then sat down silently.
After two minutes, Rajnath gave a signal and Vasundhara proposed the name of Bhajan Lal Sharma which was supported by all the MLAs present there. Till that time Bhajan Lal Sharma was sitting at the back with the MLAs. Bhajan Lal Sharma had reached the meeting last because the responsibility of organizing this meeting and welcoming the MLAs attending it was given to Bhajan Lal only. After welcoming everyone, Bhajan Lal finally reached the meeting. When his name was announced, all the leaders welcomed Bhajan Lal on the stage. BJP workers were also surprised by the announcement of Bhajan Lal Sharma’s name because no one expected such a decision that Modi would directly make a first-time MLA the Chief Minister. Although this also happened with Modi himself. When Modi became the Chief Minister, he was not even an MLA at that time. He contested assembly elections for the first time after becoming the Chief Minister, but Modi had tremendous experience in organization. When he became the Prime Minister, he had never been an MP before, had never gone to the Parliament, he became an MP for the first time and directly reached the Parliament House after becoming the Prime Minister. But he had the experience of being Chief Minister for 13 years. Bhajan Lal Sharma does not have any such experience, but Modi gives opportunity to everyone. However, Bhajan Lal Sharma is not new to politics, he was active in the party for twenty years, has been the General Secretary of Rajasthan BJP four times along with four state presidents. In the last one year, Bhajan Lal Sharma was responsible for organizing all the rallies of Modi and Amit Shah in Rajasthan. J. He has an old relationship with P. Nadda. He visited entire Rajasthan, is familiar with every area of Rajasthan. He is a resident of Bharatpur, but this time the party made him contest from Sanganer and he defeated Pushpendra Bhardwaj of Congress by more than 48 thousand votes. Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Choudhary said that this is the effect of Rahul Gandhi because ever since Rahul Gandhi raised the issue of caste census, BJP has been paying attention to the equations of castes. Proof of this is visible in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and Modi is now following Rahul’s path.
If Congress leaders want to attribute BJP’s victory to the influence of Rahul Gandhi, then it is their choice. BJP people say that Rahul Gandhi is the guarantee of BJP’s victory. The background of Bhajan Lal Sharma is quite interesting. He is a resident of Arari village of Bharatpur, from there he started politics. In 2003, he sought ticket from Nadwai seat of Bharatpur but BJP gave the ticket to Jitendra Singh at that time. Bhajanlal contested this seat as a rebel candidate, getting only 5,969 votes. Here the BJP candidate lost to Deepa Kumari of the royal family. Perhaps this is the first time that BJP has made someone who rebelled against the party the Chief Minister, but behind this is the hard work of Bhajan Lal Sharma as a worker. Bhajan Lal Sharma worked day and night for the organization for 15 years. There were officers who came and worked at the front. Bhajan Lal, who started a movement against the Gehlot government, struggled and fought on the streets, made a place in the hearts of the big leaders of the party. He came forward and fought in the movement of the State Employees Federation, his health deteriorated due to police beating during the demonstration. When the hundredth episode of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann Ki Baat’ was broadcast, Bhajan Lal Sharma organized its mass listening at more than twenty thousand places in Rajasthan. During the elections, every meeting of Narendra Modi was conducted by Bhajan Lal Sharma. Bhajan Lal wanted to contest elections from Bharatpur this time too but the party canceled the ticket of Ashok Lahauti from Sanganer and made Bhajan Lal Sharma contest. Became MLA for the first time and was elected leader of the legislative party for the first time itself. Bhajan Lal Sharma has worked hard to complete his journey from being an ordinary worker to becoming the Chief Minister. He takes everyone along, everyone likes him but his responsibility is very big. Rajasthan is a border state. There is direct competition with Congress here, so the challenge is big. The first target before Bhajan Lal Sharma will be to ensure the party’s victory in the Lok Sabha elections. Last time in Rajasthan, BJP had won 25 out of 25 Lok Sabha seats. Bhajan Lal will have to repeat this performance. Nothing less than this will work and this work is not easy.
Shivraj, Vasundhara’s future
As far as Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh are concerned, new Chief Ministers in both the states took oath on Wednesday in the presence of Narendra Modi and other top leaders. On Tuesday, Shivraj Singh Chauhan spoke openly, spoke a lot. Chauhan gave a direct reply to those who were saying that Shivraj is angry, Shivraj has refused to go to Delhi, Shivraj Singh is unhappy with the decision of the party leadership. Shivraj said that for 18 years, BJP gave him the chair of Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, made him MP, MLA and General Secretary in the party. BJP gave him everything, now is the time to return it to the party. Shivraj Singh said that far from being angry with the party, he would prefer to die before going to Delhi to demand anything from the party. Shivraj said that the party always gives responsibility to everyone after careful consideration, now whatever responsibility is given to him, he will fulfill that responsibility with all his heart and with all his strength. Women are disappointed with Shivraj not being made the Chief Minister. On Tuesday, a large number of women reached Shivraj’s house in the morning. Many women started crying loudly. Shivraj himself became emotional but explained to the women. Said that earlier also there was a party government, even today there is a party government, earlier also they used to take care of the sisters, in future too they will take care of the sisters in the same way.
It would be redundant to say that Shivraj Singh Chouhan would not have been hurt by not being made the Chief Minister, but he knows his party. Here, there is no tradition of showing pain even if the heart is hurt. He knows that one day the party had raised him from an ordinary worker to the post of Chief Minister. He dominated the politics of Madhya Pradesh for 20 years. And I would say that even today he spoke very intelligently. Considered a favor to the party. Mentioned Modi’s influence for victory in Madhya Pradesh elections. Shivraj also knows Modi. He understands that nothing can be achieved by demanding from Modi. Modi decides everyone’s role according to himself. That is why Modi will also decide what role Shivraj Singh will play in the future. The same thing applies to Vasundhara Raje also. He is also an experienced leader. She has been the top leader of BJP in Rajasthan for a long time. Like Shivraj, she also wants to live in her kingdom but it is not in Vasundhara’s hands to decide this. If we think normally, these two leaders can be brought to the centre. Their experience can be taken advantage of in government. Modi understands the importance of experienced leaders, respects their contribution. When the names of Chief Ministers were announced in Bhopal and Jaipur, the party took full care of the respect of Shivraj and Vasundhara. Consent of both the leaders was taken and the name of the new Chief Minister was proposed to Shivraj and Vasundhara only. Now these leaders will not be seated at home, but it is useless to speculate about what will be the role of these leaders and how their potential will be utilized in the 2024 elections. We will know only when the announcement is made. (Rajat Sharma)
Watch: ‘Aaj Ki Baat, Rajat Sharma Sath’ full episode of December 12, 2023
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