The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced Bhajanlal Sharma as the next chief minister of Rajasthan. His name was proposed by senior party leader Vasundhara Raje Scindia who was also among the contenders for the top post.

The decision surprised political analysts, and even Sharma (56) himself who did not know that his name was being discussed for the post. His wife Geeta Sharma also appeared unprepared to react when media asked her how she felt after her husband’s elevation.

After he was picked as the BJP legislative party leader, Sharma said he will ensure holistic development of the state and thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other party leaders for giving him the responsibility of Rajasthan.

Born in 1967 in a small village Atari in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district, Sharma started his political journey at the age of 27 years when he became the sarpanch in his village.

Before him, his uncle and grandfather were also sarpanches in their ancestral village. He started his political association with the BJP during his college days when he joined the saffron party’s student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parshad (ABVP).

He later moved to the BJP Yuva Morcha and soon became a ‘Swayamsevak’ of the saffron party’s ideological mentor RSS.

While Sharma won his first assembly election in the recently held polls, he has been an active member of the BJP and held party’s Rajasthan general secretary post on four occasions.

He was also part of the BJP’s Shriram Janma Bhoomi movement in 1992 and even went to jail. He also played an active role in ABVP’s Kashmir March in 1990.

Besides his long association with the BJP, Sharma had revolted against the party after being denied ticket in the 2003 Assembly elections. He contested the elections from Bharatpur’s Nadbai constituency against BJP candidate but lost his deposit.

Sharma is said to be a close confidante of BJP national president J P Nadda. He reportedly developed close ties with Nadda when the latter visited Bharatpur for ‘Gowardhan Parikrama’ before becoming the BJP chief. Sharma was the district BJP president at that time.

His father Kishan Swaroop Sharma and mother Gomti Devi live in their ancestral village.

His wife Geeta Devi looks after a wholesale business and has been a member of Panchayat Samiti. He has two sons – Ashish Sharma and Kunal Sharma. While Ashish is preparing for RAS, Kunal is a doctor.

Sharma defeated Congress’ Pushpendra Bhardwaj from Sanganer constituency in the 2023 Rajasthan Assembly Elections.

The oath taking ceremony will be held on December 15.