Rajasthan to get new Chief Minister today: MLAs start arriving at party office

Jaipur, Dec 12 (IANS) Rajasthan will get a new Chief Minister by Tuesday evening. The newly-elected BJP MLAs have started reaching the state office and the new CM will be announced after the Legislature Party meeting that will begin at 4 pm.

However, the MLAs arriving for the meeting, are avoiding answering questions on who will be the new CM of the state?

Party sources said that after making a tribal CM in Chhattisgarh and an OBC the CM in Madhya Pradesh the BJP can opt for a woman or general category CM for Rajasthan.

However, the new CM will be required to have the ability to retain the voters till the Lok Sabha elections and ensure the BJP’s victory in 2024.

The three observers, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Rajya Sabha member Saroj Pandey and BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde will reach Jaipur soon.

The newly-elected 115 MLAs were asked to reach the BJP office by 1 pm for the meeting where they will be served lunch and a registration programme will take place till 3 pm.

Entry to the state office is restricted and apart from the MLAs, only state officials and leaders engaged in the arrangements will be allowed to go inside.

BJP leader, Rajendra Rathore said, “Today at 4 o'clock it will be decided in whose hands Rajasthan will be. This decision will be taken by the world's most popular leaders, on whose policies this election was fought.”

State President CP Joshi said, “The whole situation will be clear by 5 pm. Defence Minister and observer Rajnath Singh will go directly to Hotel Lalit from the airport. Rajnath Singh will reach the state BJP office at 4 pm to attend the Legislative Party meeting and will remain there for about two-and-a-half hours till 6:30 pm, after which he will leave for Delhi at 7 pm.”

The BJP sprang a surprise when it made a Chief Minister from the tribal category in Chhattisgarh and from the OBC category in Madhya Pradesh. It is believed that in Rajasthan, too, it will spring a surprise.

Significantly, senior MLAs Kalicharan Saraf, Pratap Singh Singhvi, Babu Singh Rathore, Jaswant Yadav, former MLAs Ashok Parnami, Rajpal Singh Shekhawat and Prahlad Gunjal reached the bungalow of former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Monday.