As BJP legislature party holds a meeting in Jaipur to pick the next Chief Minister of Rajasthan, the name of party general secretary (organistaion) Sunil Bansal has emerged as a contender for the top job. Despite Rajasthan election results being declared nine days ago, BJP has been unable to zero in on their CM candidate.
Over the past few days, the names of Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, ex-CM Vasundhara Raje, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Rajasthan BJP's state unit chief CP Joshi and Baba Balaknath have been doing the rounds as frontrunners for the CM post in Rajasthan, which BJP wrested from the Congress by winning 115 of the 199 seats that went to polls.
The BJP's conundrum comes as the party, for the first time in Rajasthan, did not declare its CM candidate and contested the polls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its face amid concerns over factionalism in the state unit.
Who Is Sunil Bansal?
Bansal, who hails from Rajasthan, has been part of BJP's organisational structure and is known to be a master strategist. Bansal, who has an RSS background, is said to be very close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.
Bansal, born on September 20, 1969, has been active in politics since his student life and was associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP). In 1989, he was elected as the general secretary of Rajasthan University.
He became an RSS pracharak in 1990, following which he was inducted into the BJP. Bansal played a major role in charting BJP's strategy in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh. He was made co-incharge of UP and along with Amit Shah is credited for BJP's stupendous victory in the state, where the saffron party won 73 out of 80 seats.
The win saw Bansal climbing up the party ranks and he was then entrusted as in-charge of West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana.