Bhajanlal Sharma to be the New Chief Minister of Rajasthan

Jaipur: Following hectic parleys, the BJP high command on Tuesday picked Sanganer MLA Bhajanlal Sharma 54 as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

In all there were about eight contenders for the post including former chief minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia. The Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh spoke to her at length and convinced her before she withdrew from the race for the post of chief ministers post.

Later the legislature party of BJP met at Jaipur and elected Sharma as the BJLP leader. Sharma had registered a thumping victory in the Assembly elections. He won the recently concluded elections from the Sanganer assembly seat, defeating Congress's Pushpendra Bhardwaj with over 48,081 votes. The BJP high command had sent a team of three observers which included Vinod Tawde and Saroj Pandey.

Gajendra Shekhawat, Mahant Balaknath, Diya Kumari, Anita Bhadel, Manju Baghmar and Arjun Ram Meghwal, were among the top contenders the top post.