Another Surprise? BJP May Announce Rajasthan Chief Minister Today

Having sprung two surprises in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, the BJP is likely to announce the name of the chief minister for Rajasthan today.

The BJP's newly elected MLAs are scheduled to meet in Jaipur at 4 pm to pick the legislative party leader, and all eyes will be on whether the party decides to go with its best-known face in the state, two-time chief minister Vasundhara Raje, or effect a generational change, like it has in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

BJP State General Secretary and MLA Bhajanlal Sharma said the meeting will take place at the party headquarters in the presence of BJP's central observer and Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and two co-observers, National General Secretary Vinod Tawde and National Vice President Saroj Pandey. All party MLAs have been asked to attend the meeting, where the name of the new chief minister will be announced, Mr Sharma told news agency PTI.

The party won 115 seats in the 200-member Assembly in the elections, whose results were declared on December 3. Polling did not take place in the Karanpur seat of Sriganganagar district after the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Kooner.

In the run-up to the elections, the BJP had not declared Ms Raje the chief ministerial face and had decided to bank on collective leadership and the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to unseat the Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government, which was seen as having a strong chance of bucking the state's revolving-door policy because of the popularity of its welfare schemes.

Ms Raje is still seen as a frontrunner for the post, along with Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Ashwini Vaishnaw. The other contenders are Diya Kumari from the erstwhile Jaipur royal family, state unit chief CP Joshi and senior leader Kirodi Lal Meena. 

There is speculation that the party, which has chosen an OBC leader in Madhya Pradesh and a tribal leader in Chhattisgarh, could pick a woman as the chief minister in Rajasthan.

In what is being seen as a show of support, several newly elected MLAs have been meeting Ms Raje ahead of the legislative party meet. Nearly 10 MLAs had gone to her residence on Sunday as well.

In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP picked former cabinet minister Mohan Yadav for the top job, preferring him over the party's longest-serving chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Mr Chouhan's welfare schemes - especially Ladli Behna - and popularity were seen to have played a key role in the party returning to power in the state with a thumping majority.

For Chhattisgarh, the party decided to go with tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai over three-term chief minister Raman Singh. PM Modi had wanted to have a tribal leader as the chief minister of the state, and Mr Sai is also known to be favoured by the party's ideological mentor, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). Both Mr Sai and Mr Yadav will be sworn in tomorrow.