Bhajan Lal Sharma sworn in as Rajasthan CM, Diya Kumari, Prem Chand as Dy CMs

BJP's Bhajan Lal Sharma was on Friday (December 15) sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony held in front of the Albert Hall in Jaipur.

Along with him, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa were also sworn in, as the deputy chief ministers.

Governor Kalraj Mishra administered the oath. All three took the oath in Hindi.

The swearing-in ceremony was attended by PM Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and several other senior leaders of the party.

Sharma, a BJP state general secretary and first time MLA, took charge of the state on the day he turned 57.

The outgoing chief minister Ashok Gehlot attended the ceremony held in front of the historic Albert Hall here. A large gathering of BJP MLAs and workers from across the state witnessed it.

A Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-backed leader, Sharma was appointed the leader of the BJP legislature party on December 12.

Newly appointed chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Mohan Yadav, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, Gujarat CM Bhupendrabhai Patel, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, Goa CM Pramod Sawant and Deputy Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh Keshav Prasad Maurya were also in attendance.

Seers and mahants from different places attended the ceremony as well.

As Sharma, Diya Kumari and Bairwa took the oath, BJP supporters raised slogans of 'Jai Shri Ram' and 'Modi-Modi'.

Gehlot, who was among the leaders who reached the programme early, sat next to "rival" Gajendra Singh Shekhwat and was seen talking to him. Gehlot has been repeatedly targeting Union minister Shekhawat, accusing him of being involved in the Sanjivani Credit Co-operative Society 'scam'. Shekhawat, in turn, has filed a defamation case against Gehlot in Delhi.

Shortly before the oath ceremony, a brief commotion took place at an entry point in Ramniwas garden where people forcibly entered the venue.

Several people jumped over the barricades before police managed to stop them.

The BJP on December 12 picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.

The surprise choice was announced after BJP MLAs met here and elected the 56-year-old legislator from Sanganer as the leader of its legislature party.

Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Vasundhara Raje were also among the frontrunners for the CM post before the legislature party meeting.

Sharma, a Brahmin face of the party, is from Bharatpur district and won the Sanganer constituency of Jaipur with a margin of 48,081 votes. He holds a master's degree in Political Science.

He is the third in a series of lesser-known MLAs who have been elevated by the BJP to the chief minister's post after the recently held assembly elections.

The others are Vishnu Deo Sai and Mohan Yadav who recently took oath as the chief ministers of Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh respectively.

The BJP in Rajasthan won 115 seats in the November 25 assembly elections, while the Congress got 69 seats. Polling was held on 199 of the 200 seats in the state.

(With agency inputs)