• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

As the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has announced the names of the Chief Ministers of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the newly elected party MLAs of Rajasthan will meet on Tuesday. The elected legislators will meet to pick the next chief minister, ending days of suspense after the party won the assembly elections.

“The meeting of the BJP Legislature Party has been called at 4 pm on Tuesday at the BJP state office. Registration of all newly elected MLAs of the BJP will start at 1.30 pm,” BJP state general secretary and MLA Bhajanlal Sharma said.

According to news agency PTI, the party has asked all the newly elected MLAs to compulsorily attend the meeting.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who has been appointed as observer by the party, and the two co-observers—national vice president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde—will be present at the meeting, BJP leader in charge for Rajasthan, Arun Singh told reporters.

On being asked about the possibility of choosing a Dalit leader as CM, Singh said that everything would be revealed tomorrow. Among the most probable names running for key posts in the state are former chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, and Ashwini Vaishnaw, among others.

The MLAs were informed of the key meeting on Monday, where the central leadership will make known its choice for the post, nine days after the results of the November 25 elections came in.

The BJP won 115 seats out of the 199 where polling took place. Polling was postponed in one constituency due to the death of a candidate.

Several MLAs have called on former Raje in recent days in what was seen as a show of support amid speculation over what the party's top brass will decide. She also met party leaders in Delhi.

Rajendra Rathore, who lost the assembly elections, claimed that the BJP does not have a show-of-strength culture. Neither does anybody has the courage to do so, he said.

He said MLAs go to meet senior leaders to exchange wishes, and it should not be seen in that sense, and he asserted that all BJP leaders in the state are united.

Rathore said the new “double engine” will take shape in Rajasthan tomorrow, a reference to the party holding power both in the state and at the Centre. 

(With input from agencies)