After over a week since the Election Commission of India (ECI) declared the results of assembly elections in five states, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) is about to end the suspense over its picks for the Chief Ministers of the states it won -- Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. The central observers' teams appointed by the party are talking to elected MLAs to prevent any uproar and made surprise announcements in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Now, the focus turns to Rajasthan, where the BJP won 115 seats out of the 199 that went to polls.
For Chhattisgarh, the saffron party finalised Vishnu Deo Sai's name as the CM and Mohan Yadav has been named the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. However, the situation is not the same everywhere as in Rajasthan, former CM Vasundhara Raje has been meeting newly elected MLAs recently. With two big decisions in the last two days, the party is expected to put an end to all speculations with another bombshell announcement.
Who Will Be Rajasthan CM?: 10 Points
- The BJP has called a Legislature Party meeting in Rajasthan at 4 pm on Tuesday. According to PTI, party state general secretary and MLA Bhajanlal Sharma said the meeting will take place at the party's state headquarters and will be attended by BJP central observer Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and two co-observers -- national vice president Saroj Pandey and national general secretary Vinod Tawde.
- Sharma said: "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". He added that all newly elected MLAs have been asked to compulsorily attend the meeting and the name of the CM will be announced in the meeting, the report stated
- BJP MLA Jogeshwar Garg mentioned that the observers appointed for the legislative party meeting will arrive in Jaipur on Tuesday and engage in one-on-one discussions with the MLAs in the morning.
- Among the frontrunners for the top post in the state are -- former CM Vasundhara Raje and Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw.
- In a show of strength, several BJP MLAs have called on former chief minister Raje in recent days amid speculations that the party may choose a non-popular face for the CM. However, as per PTI, the party leaders including Rajendra Rathore, who lost the elections, said there is no tradition of show of strength in the BJP.
- Rathore said that MLAs go to meet senior leaders to exchange wishes and it should not be seen in that sense only. He emphasised that all the leaders of the party are united.
- Earlier, sources in the BJP told ABP News that the party chief JP Nadda called Vasundhara Raje on Sunday and advised her to not meet party MLAs and let the top brass decide on the CM face. Raje urged Nadda to make her CM for one year. The former CM refused Nadda's proposal to become Lok Sabha speaker
- Responding to questions about the MLAs meeting with former Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje at her home on Monday, MLA Kirodi Lal Meena clarified that 17 MLAs have also met him after the election results, and this should not be perceived as lobbying, PTI reported.
- When asked about the possibility of a Dalit leader being chosen as the CM, BJP MP Arun Singh said, "Everything will be revealed tomorrow."
- On Sunday, Congress MLA and Rajasthan Adivasi Meena Seva Sangh president Ramkesh Meena has wrote to BJP brass asking them to appoint tribal leader Kirodi Lal Meena as the CM of the state. Kirodi Lal Meena is the BJP MLA from Sawai Madhopur.