Surprise pick, Bhajan Lal Sharma rose steadily to head Rajasthan

A day after picking a relatively unknown former state minister, Mohan Yadav, as the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sprung an even bigger surprise by anointing first-time legislator Bhajan Lal Sharma for the top post in Rajasthan.

Yet, like in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (where former party president Vishnu Deo Sai has ascended to the top position), Sharma may be little-known outside the state, but has steadily climbed the ladder of the BJP organisation — from an active ABVP member in college to Bharatpur district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha to a village sarpanch to three-time organisational secretary of the state BJP to now being named Rajasthan chief minister.

Born into a family of farmers in Atari village in Bharatpur, the 56-year-old Sharma studied in government schools in his home tehsil of Nadbai before completing his BA at the Maharani Shri Jaya government college in 1989. In 1993, he finished a Master’s in Political Science from Rajasthan University in Jaipur.

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It was during his college years that he joined the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP, serving on multiple posts including as co-convenor for Bharatpur district. By 1991, he was the secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. “He courted arrest in 1990 when the ABVP had organised a march to Kashmir that was eventually stopped in Udhampur,” a senior BJP leader said, asking not to be named.

In 1994, at the age of 27, Sharma became the sarpanch of Atari village -- a post he held twice. “Since then, he has been known for his organisational skills, and he has held multiple positions within the party, from mandal adhyaksh, to three-time state organisational secretary. He held that post until the 2023 elections,” a second senior BJP leader said.

With most of his political grounding in Bharatpur, two senior leaders said that Sharma sought a ticket for the 2023 polls from his local assembly constituency, but was asked to contest from the BJP bastion of Sanganer in Jaipur instead.

This is a seat the party has held since 2003, and only lost twice since 1980.

“Sharma is close to the RSS, and the Sangh invested in his election, and ensured his win,” the second BJP leader said.

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This however, is not the first time Sharma fought the assembly elections. In 2003, he contested from Nadbai on a Samajik Nyay Manch ticket, and finished fifth. The SNM was a political party formed under the leadership of Lokendra Kalvi, the president of the Shri Rajput Karni Sena, and fought on the plank of social justice for economically backward “upper castes”.

A party leader said that he was expelled for sometime but later accommodated.

Uttarakhand BJP leader Neha Joshi, who spent time in Rajasthan during the assembly elections, described Sharma as a “doer”. “He was the organisational secretary in Jaipur and handled affairs in the BJP office. When the party asked him to contest from Sanganer, much of the work in the party office became so much difficult because he would manage everything,” she said.

Sharma’s announcement brought a wave of celebrations in Bharatpur, where supporters thronged his family.

“It is unbelievable for me that my son has become a chief minister. He has worked hard for many years and this has given him an opportunity. He always respects people and has been involved in social work for a long time,” said Sharma’s mother, Gomti Devi.

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Kishan Swarop, his father, a farmer by occupation, said: “I am proud of him and the sense of pride he has brought to Bharatpur.”

Senior BJP leaders in Rajasthan said that while Sharma was a “new face” who embodied a generational shift in the sense that he was a first-time MLA whose work behind the scenes in the organisation had held him in good stead. “From the party’s point of view, he has repeatedly been organisational secretary, no matter who the party president is. He has deep experience and will take the state and everyone forward,” Bhagirath Choudhary, member of Parliament from Ajmer, said.

PP Choudhary, the member of Parliament from Pali, said: “He is someone who is connected to the ground, and knows every nook and corner of the state. We congratulate Prime Minister Modi and his vision for picking someone who knows each and every small worker of the party.”