Go Unlimited with Magzter GOLD
Get unlimited access to 10,000+ magazines, newspapers and Premium stories for just
Try GOLD - Free
A surprise pick, Sharma rose steadily to head Raj
Hindustan Times
|December 13, 2023
A day after picking a relatively unknown former state minister, Mohan Yadav, as the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sprung an even bigger surprise by anointing first time legislator Bhajan Lal Sharma for the top post in Rajasthan.
Yet, like in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (where former party president Vishnu Dev Sai has ascended to the top position), Sharma may be little-known outside the state, but has steadily climbed the ladder of the BJP organisation from an active ABVP member in college to Bharatpur district president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha to a village sarpanch to three-time organisational secretary of the state BJP to now being named Rajasthan chief minister.
Born into a family of farmers in Atari village in Bharatpur, the 56-year-old Sharma studied in government schools in his home tehsil of Nadbai before completing his BA at the Maharani Shri Jaya government college in 1989. In 1993, he finished a Master's in Political Science from Rajasthan University in Jaipur.
It was during his college years that he joined the ABVP, the student wing of the BJP, serving on multiple posts including as co-convenor for Bharatpur district. By 1991, he was the secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. "He courted arrest in 1990 when the ABVP had organised a march to Kashmir that was eventually stopped in Udhampur," a senior BJP leader said, asking not to be named.
This story is from the December 13, 2023 edition of Hindustan Times.
Subscribe to Magzter GOLD to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 10,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
MORE STORIES FROM Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
‘Developing nations will need at least $310bn a year by 2030’
Adaptation finance —money needed to help developing countries mitigate the climate crisis — are likely to be over $310 billion per year in developing countries by 2035 , 12 times higher than the current international requirement, the Adaptation Gap Report 2025 has flagged.
1 mins
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
As campaign heats up, NDA, Oppn trade barbs
Campaigning for the high-stakes assembly elections in Bihar kicked into high gear on Wednesday as both the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition Grand Alliance deployed top leaders to address rallies crisscrossing the state, hoping to convince voters before the polls next month.
4 mins
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
HC acquits 5 of murder in CRPF attack case
The Allahabad high court on Wednesday set aside a trial court order that awarded capital punishment to four persons and life imprisonment to another in connection with the terrorist attack on a CRPF camp at Rampur district on the night of December 31, 2007, in which eight CRPF jawans died and five sustained injuries.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
Lakhimpur Kheri trial crawls as hostile witnesses hit brakes
On October 3, 2021, an SUV, with former Union minister of state for home Ajay 'Teni' Mishra's son Ashish Mishra allegedly in it, mowed down four farmers and a journalist in Uttar Pradesh's Lakhimpur Kheri district.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
Critics of my startup remarks ‘perpetual Modi haters’: Goyal
Union minister Piyush Goyal on Wednesday said those who attacked him for his controversial comments on Indian startups at the Startup Mahakumbh earlier this year were “perpetual haters of the Modi government’, adding that what began as an online backlash eventually turned into a “wake-up call” for India’s startup ecosystem.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
Thousands deployed to clean ghats
A day after the city celebrated Chhath Puja alongside the Yamuna, officials on Wednesday said piles of waste had accumulated on the river's banks.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times Delhi
iPhone 17 tops Apple’s first-month India sales
The iPhone 17 became the largest-selling Apple smartphone in the first month of launch in India, according to market researchers, as a new edition overshadows older models for the first time, mirroring the country’s growing importance for the company.
2 mins
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
New US immigration rule: No auto extn of work authorisation
The US Department of Homeland Security has eliminated automatic extensions of employment authorisation documents, a move that will force foreign workers — especially Indians who make up a large portion of the expat workforce — to stop working if their renewals are not approved before their current permits expire.
1 min
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
INDIA'S MARITIME SECTOR IS ADVANCING WITH GREAT SPEED AND ENERGY: PM MODI
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday addressed the Maritime Leaders Conclave and chaired the Global Maritime CEO Forum at India Maritime Week (IMW) 2025, being held in Mumbai.
2 mins
October 30, 2025
Hindustan Times
Classic returns
Season’s first sighting of Delhi's iconic winter dessert
2 mins
October 30, 2025
Translate
Change font size