Multiple names figure in race for Rajasthan CM’s post
The decision to not field a CM face, and instead projecting a united state leadership, was the first time in three decades that the party did not field a candidate for the top position
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was set to return to power in Rajasthan after winning in 115 of the 199seats on Sunday, contested the state elections without a chief ministerial candidate with Prime Minister Narendra Modi having led the campaign.
The decision to not field a CM face, and instead projecting a united state leadership, was the first time in three decades that the party did not field a candidate for the top position.
Commenting on who will bag the top spot, a BJP leader said the decision regarding the CM “will be taken in a couple of days”. He said the party will send an observer who will oversee the meeting of MLAs where the leader of the BJP legislature party will be chosen. “That leader’s name will be sent to Delhi where the BJP parliamentary board will put the final stamp,”said the BJP leader.
Among the leading contenders for the job is two-time chief minister Vasundhara Raje, 70, who campaigned aggressively for the party. Raje has been the BJP’s face in Rajasthan for the last two decades and a five-time Parliament member.
A BJP national vice-president, Raje is seen as an able administrator but one who has had frequent run-ins with the party’s top leadership. Educated in Kodaikanal and Mumbai, Raje began her political career in 1984. Raje’s mother, Vijaya Raje Scindia, was among the BJP’s founders. She became a Lok Sabha member from Jhalwar in 1989 and later served as a minister in Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government.
After the BJP’s defeat in the 2018 polls, Raje kept distance from the party and was absent from its meetings and programmes. In the run-up to this year’s polls, Raje’s supporters sought her to be projected as the chief ministerial candidate. The party, while not doing so, gave tickets to over 40 of her supporters and Raje addressed rallies across the state.
Another leading contender is Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat. The BJP’s Rajput face, Shekhawat, 56, shot to fame after defeating Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s son, Vaibhav, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Jodhpur. Shekhawat is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and the party’s top leadership. Gehlot has accused Shekhawat of involvement in a credit cooperative scam and of trying to topple the Congress government in 2020.
Raje is believed to have opposed Shekhawat’s appointment as the Rajasthan BJP chief when she was the chief minister. In the run-up to the 2023 polls, Shekhawat was instrumental in the defection of Rameshwar Dadhich, a close aide of Gehlot’s, to the BJP.
A third leading candidate for CM is Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, a former bureaucrat. Known to enjoy Modi’s confidence, Meghwal is a three-time parliamentarian and one of the Dalit faces in Rajasthan. Meghwal, 69, is known to keep a low profile and is considered a good administrator.
Meghwal comes from a family of weavers in Bikaner and resigned as an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer before winning the Lok Sabha elections in 2009 from Bikaner.
Two-time parliamentarian from Chittorgarh, CP Joshi too is considered among the contenders. In 2019, he won the Lok Sabha elections by the margin of 576,000 votes, defeating Gopal Singh Shekhawat of Congress. He is considered close to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, who may be in reckoning in the run for the CM’s post as well, if the party prefers a senior leader like him.
Political analyst Mithilesh Jaimini said that the BJP will likely bring a fresh face as CM like they did in Gujarat. “The party will decide keeping in mind the 2024 general election. If they want to focus on Dalit votes, Arjun Ram Meghwal could be the choice. Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari, who has won with a high margin, is also in contention. State BJP president CP Joshi who followed the brief given by Delhi and led the party to victory is also a contender,” he said.
Baba Balaknath, 48, the BJP’s Lok Sabha member from Alwar, is another dark horse in the race among BJP leaders. The head of the Nath sect in Rohtak, Balaknath is considered close to Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath. He has a mass following in eastern Rajasthan, where he contested the 2023 polls from Tijara.
Two others who were seen as contenders for the CM’s post ahead of Sunday’s results --- leader of opposition in Rajasthan assembly, Rajendra Rathore, and his deputy in the house and former state president, Satish Poonia --- lost from their respective constituencies Taranagar and Amber.
