Shruti Suman
The ongoing suspense in Rajasthan surrounding the selection of a new Chief Minister is expected to conclude as the BJP has instructed all its MLAs to gather in Jaipur on Tuesday. The BJP Legislature Party is set to convene at the state headquarters in Jaipur around 4 pm. Among the attendees will be Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, designated as the party’s observer, along with co-observers BJP national vice-president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
Initial one-on-one discussions with the MLAs will take place, followed by the formal announcement of the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s name after lunch, as per reports.
Former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Ashwini Vaishnaw are considered frontrunners for the chief ministerial position in Rajasthan, one of the three states (Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh and Madhya Pradesh) won by the BJP in the recent vidhansabha elections.
Since the announcement of the Assembly results on December 3, several MLAs have met with former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje at her residence in Jaipur’s Civil Lines area. Raje, undoubtedly the party’s prominent leader in the state, had a lesser role during the election campaign, which emphasized a “collective leadership” model led by the central leadership.
Considering the party’s choice of new faces over established candidates in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, there is speculation about whether the BJP will bring about a generational change in leadership in Rajasthan as well. In Chhattisgarh, the party selected tribal leader and former Union Minister Vishnu Deo Sai over former CM Raman Singh, and in Madhya Pradesh, MLA Mohan Yadav was chosen over Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
Amid the ongoing suspense over the chief ministerial selection in Rajasthan, Congress MLA and Rajasthan Adivasi Meena Seva Sangh president Ramkesh Meena has written to the BJP leadership, proposing the appointment of tribal leader Kirodi Lal Meena as the state’s CM. Kirodi Lal Meena is the BJP MLA from Sawai Madhopur.
Ramkesh Meena, as the president of the Adivasi Meena Seva Sangh, mentioned in the letter that he has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP chief JP Nadda about this recommendation.
Leaders speculated to be the BJP’s top choices for the Chief Minister’s post include Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Ashwini Vaishnaw, BJP MLA Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, and Baba Balaknath.
The BJP secured 115 seats out of the 199 contested, with polling postponed in one constituency due to the death of a candidate.
