Jaipur: First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan in Jaipur on Friday. The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP's top leadership.
Sharma, a BJP state general secretary, took charge of the state on the day he turned 57, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls. Along with him, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were sworn in as the deputy chief ministers by Governor Kalraj Mishra. All three took the oath in Hindi.
The event was held in front of the historic Albert Hall here, and the outgoing chief minister and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot also attended the function. A large gathering of BJP MLAs and workers from across the state witnessed it.
A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed leader, Sharma was appointed the leader of the BJP legislature party on December 12. The swearing-in ceremony was a grand affair, attended by PM Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and several other ministers and senior leaders of the party.
The newly appointed chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, Gujarat CM Bhupendrabhai Patel, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Goa CM Pramod Sawant and Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya were also present. Seers and mahants from different places attended the ceremony as well.
While Bhajan Lal Sharma, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa took the oath, BJP supporters raised slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Modi-Modi'.
Massive security and sitting arrangements were made at the venue expecting a large number of spectators. Even though, a brief commotion took place shortly before the oath-taking, as people forcibly entered the venue through an entry point in Ramniwas garden. Several jumped over the barricades before police managed to stop them.
Rajasthan went polling booths on November 25 and the BJP became the single largest party of the state, securing 115 seats from the total 199.
Sharma, a Brahmin face of the party, was announced as the chief minister-designate during a BJP legislature party meeting, held on Tuesday. He hails from the Bharatpur district and won the Sanganer constituency of Jaipur with a margin of 48,081 votes.
He is the third in a series of lesser-known MLAs who have been elevated by the BJP to the chief minister's post after the recently held assembly elections.
The others are Vishnu Deo Sai and Mohan Yadav who recently took oath as the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh respectively.
(With inputs from PTI)
