Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh Done, All Eyes Now on BJP's Rajasthan CM Pick

With the announcement of the first Tribal Chief Minister in Chhattisgarh Vishnu Deo Sai and a young OBC candidate Mohan Yadav in Madhya Pradesh, all eyes are now on Rajasthan as the Bharatiya Janata Party is likely to scotch the suspense over the name of the its player for the top position in the desert state.

The name of the CM candidate in Rajasthan is likely to be announced on Tuesday as Union Minister Rajnath Singh, party general secretary Vinod Tawde and Rajya Sabha MP Saroj Pande will convene the legislative meeting of newly-elected MLAs.

The MLAs were informed on Monday about the meeting of the legislative party, where the BJP’s central leadership is likely to end days of suspense after the party won the assembly election.

BJP MLA Jogeshwar Garg said the observers appointed for the legislative party meeting will come to Jaipur tomorrow and hold one-on-one talks with the MLAs in the morning.

As far as Rajasthan politics is concerned, former CM Vasundhara Raje is seen as one of the strongest challengers for the top post. Other names in the race are Baba Balaknath, Diya Kumari, and Kirodi Lal Meena.

Earlier this week, Raje flew to Delhi to meet BJP chief JP Nadda and Amit Shah amid speculations of her taking the top post in the desert state. Before her visit, she held meetings with over 60 newly-elected BJP MLAs at her residence.

The chief ministerial race within the BJP has generated a lot of political buzz amid reports that the saffron party has decided to go for a new line of leadership.

On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced that Ujjain South MLA Mohan Yadav will be the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. The decision came after the BJP’s legislative party meeting.

Yadav met the governor Mangubhai C Patel at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal and staked claim to form the government while former CM Shivraj Chouhan tendered his resignation.

The BJP on Sunday picked Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal leader, as the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh, ending the suspense over who will helm the state which the saffron party wrested from Congress in recent polls.

Sai (59) was elected as the BJP’s legislative party leader at a meeting of 54 newly-elected MLAs held at the party’s state headquarters here in the afternoon, a party functionary said.