Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma.
Credit: PTI Photo
Jaipur, Dec 18 : With a relatively political lightweight, Bhajanlal Sharma, helming the top post in Rajasthan, there is expectation that Rajasthan Cabinet may get to see new faces, signalling a generational change in the state’s power corridors.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma’s meeting with BJP president J P Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and others in Delhi is understood to have been about the new Cabinet formation and the possible blueprint for governance and the strategies to be adopted for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections.
Although Sharma’s first order of a SIT against exam paper leaks and anti-gangster task force to tackle organised crime have been swift, BJP’s other campaign promises like appointment of 2.5 lakh government employees and a subsidy of Rs 450 per LPG cylinder have to be tackled carefully along with state’s weak fiscal position (Rajasthan’s net debt increased to Rs 537,013 crore during 2022-23 up from Rs 458,89 crore a year ago). Factionalism within the party and the caste arithmetic in the Cabinet are also matters of concern.
While the strategy would be to maintain a caste balance in the selection of ministers, which could total up to 29, there would be an attempt to go for fresh faces within the age range of 40 to 50 years.
With the election of Kalicharan Saraf, 73, a seven-term MLA from Malviya Nagar in Jaipur, as the pro-term Speaker, along with a panel of three senior MLAs—Dayaram Parmar, 78, from Kherwara (ST) in Udaipur district; Pratap Singh Singhvi, 68, from Chhabra in Baran district; and Kirori Lal Meena, 72, from Sawai Madhopur, it seems the design is to give senior leaders respectable positions but phase them out slowly from mainstream politics. Vasudev Devnani, 73, has already been appointed as the Speaker of the Assembly.
While some names like Dr Shailesh Singh, 43, who defeated Congress’s tall leader and minister Vishvendra Singh from Deeg-Kumher; Jawahar Singh Bedam, 55, MLA from Nagar; Nauksham Choudhary, 31, MLA from Kaman; Sandeep Sharma, 55, three-term MLA from Kota (South); Ram Bilas Meena, 47, MLA from Lalsot are doing the rounds, poll analysts say other than maintaining the caste equation, BJP is likely to opt for fresh faces in a younger age bracket. Looking at the appointments made till now, they may overlook senior leaders who have held ministerial positions earlier.
Big names like Anita Bhadel, Rajyavardhan Rathore, Srichand Kriplani, and Siddhi Kumari are said to be under hold for the moment, say sources.
Senior leader Rajendra Rathore, who was the Opposition leader in the Assembly last time and who lost his Taranagar seat this time, said today that the new Cabinet would be formed very soon along with the roadmap to fulfil the promises of the BJP manifesto.
Adding that the corruption charges against the previous government would be investigated, Rathore in a jibe at some senior leaders who were probably responsible for his defeat, also said that he fully concedes his defeat and upholds the voters' decision. He said, “But some people acted like Jaichand (who was a 12th century Rajput king, who is considered a traitor who backstabbed Prithviraj Chauhan -III in the battle against Muhammad Ghori) played their treacherous roles and are now trying to come closer to power with a decent front but actually are duplicitous in nature. But BJP workers are just waiting to remove the masks from their faces.” He, however, admitted that he takes full responsibility for his defeat.
He also said the ensuing elections would be fought under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the resolve is to win it for the third time.
Poll analysts also say the government would be assisted by the strong RSS Sangathan in the state that would keep a tab on the workings.
Meanwhile, the bureaucratic appointments of T. Ravikanth, a 1988 batch officer as principal secretary to CM; Anandhi, a 2007 batch officer as secretary; and Soumya Jha, a 2017 batch officer as joint secretary indicate the focus is on experienced, tech-savvy but relatively young officers, Sunil Bhargava, head of BJP’s state research and policy wing told DH.
The appointment of Yogesh Kumar Srivastava, a 1988 batch RAS officer, as CM’s OSD, also shows that experienced and relatively young faces are being taken on board. Chief Minister Sharma, who has not had any experience in governance, is expected to bank on these bureaucratic experts to confront governance and political challenges that lie ahead.