THE CM REDRAWS LINES IN THE SAND

One day he's down, next he's rearranging his entire bureaucracy. It's been a rollercoaster, but the CM has regained upper hand

- By Rohit Parihar

THE CAMEL RIDE HE TOOK on the sands of Shergarh, Jodhpur, in early July must have reminded Bhajan Lal Sharma of the ups and downs of life as a chief minister. The climate didn't seem propitious—on any front.

His powerful predecessors, Ashok Gehlot and Vasundhara Raje, were on the prowl—scarcely concealing their ill will. On top of that, the restive base of maverick Jat MP Hanuman Beniwal, founder-boss of Rashtriya Loktantrik Party (RLP), had just ruffled Rajasthan's political landscape with a hashtag storm: #BhajanLalHataoRajasthanBachao went the slogan, i.e. 'Remove Bhajan Lal, Save Rajasthan'. Over 130,000 posts had flooded social media. The pro-CM counter hashtag, #RajasthanWithBhajanLal, limped in comparison, with barely 6,800 posts.

THE NEED TO BE TOUGH