When the BJP central leadership handpicked Bhajan Lal Sharma, a first time MLA, as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan in December 2023, it was a surprise to all, particularly the party workers. In an exclusive interview, Mr. Sharma elaborates on his efforts to consolidate his leadership and governance initiatives.
Nine months ago, you became CM. You are a first time MLA, and many others within the party who are senior to you may not like this fact. How do you manage?
My party’s leadership, Prime Minister Narendra Modiji and Amit Shahji trusted me with the job of serving the people of Rajasthan. Yes, it is legitimate that other people too may have had ambitions to be CM, but now that I am here, everyone supports me. I believe in taking everyone along and all my colleagues are in touch with me. I listen to everyone’s rational issues and try to fulfil their expectations. As general secretary of the State BJP for many years, I have travelled across the State, and have stayed in almost every constituency, every taluka. I have a deep connect with the workers of the BJP. As CM today, I talk to party workers in all parts of the State, every morning for several hours. I begin with calls to junior-most karyakartas and the common people who try to contact me. Everyone knows that we are all working for the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, and I have faced no resistance from anyone. In fact, I get the support of all party colleagues, juniors and seniors. My strength is the trust of the national leadership in me and the people of my State.
So you feel fully in control, nine months into the job?
Nine months is indeed a short time to bring sweeping changes, especially in a system that has suffered from deep-rooted corruption and irregularities of the Congress system of five years. We inherited a fiscal loss of almost ₹5.5 lakh crore. Scams in government jobs, corruption, law and order situation, water and power availability were some of the major challenges. We created an SIT [special investigation team] to look into paper leaks in recruitment exams on the very first day of the government, we signed over 2.25 lakh MoUs for power production, did agreements with other States, including water agreements… We are focused on transforming Rajasthan into a $350-billion economy.
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What explains the BJP’s setback in the Lok Sabha election? You got only 14 of the 25 seats, a significant drop from 2019.
Congress managed to mislead our voters, making a false narrative that we were planning to change the Constitution and end reservation. People have now realised that the BJP is committed to reservation for the backward sections of our society. They have seen through the Congress hypocrisy. Congress has no ideology or programme. It is only a gathering of the corrupt and the opportunists.
Many people ask, ‘Is the BJP now like Congress?’ The party is taking in a lot of people from other parties, including the Congress.
We have to be tactical in dealing with political challenges. For instance, if we had not made the alliance with the PDP and formed a government in Kashmir, we could not have taken the steps that finally led to the changes to Article 370. You may say it was an opportunistic alliance, but the fact is that it advanced a long pending principle that the BJP stood for. BJP does not dilute its ideology of Hindutva. We stay firmly committed to it, and people have come to appreciate us for that.
Do you feel you were selected, and not elected, as CM…
See, what matters is that I am now here. My vision is to create a prosperous and thriving Rajasthan. Our top priorities include generating employment for the unemployed youth — we have promised over 10 lakh jobs in the next five years, ensuring housing for all, improving healthcare services, providing tap water to every household, and increasing farmers’ incomes. We have increased the MSP [minimum support price for wheat] to ₹2,400. To tackle unemployment, we said we would fill four lakh vacancies across State government departments over the next five years. Over 150 people have been arrested for question paper leaks from the Rajasthan Public Service Commission (RPSC).
What is the ‘Rising Rajasthan’ initiative?
Investment is crucial to building a prosperous state. States like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Haryana are advancing because they continuously attract investors. ‘Rising Rajasthan’ initiative is to provide investors with a streamlined process for obtaining information and approvals under one roof. I am personally involved in bringing investment to Rajasthan.
