Friday was also Mr Sharma’s birthday.
New Delhi:
With his birthday coinciding with one of the most important days in his life, Bhajan Lal Sharma – the BJP’s surprise pick for the Rajasthan chief minister’s post – washed the feet of his parents and took their blessing before heading for his oath-taking ceremony.
A video shows Mr Sharma, who turned 56 today, sitting on the floor with his wife while his parents are seen seated on a sofa. The chief minister is seen pouring water on his father’s feet, which are kept on a flat vessel, before wiping them with a towel. The stool with the vessel is then shifted towards his mother and Mr Sharma is seen repeating the process with her.
The chief minister and his wife then garland his parents before bending down and touching their feet. Mr Sharma’s father anoints his forehead with red coloured paste (tilak) and then hands him a sweet, which the chief minister can be seen splitting with his wife.
After taking his parents’ blessings, Mr Sharma proceeded to take oath at a grand ceremony in Jaipur, which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Sharma’s name was announced on Tuesday, taking many by surprise because he was chosen ahead of several frontrunners for the post, including his now deputy, Diya Kumari, and former chief minister Vasundhara Raje.
The first-time MLA from Sanganer was associated with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, a student organisation affiliated with the BJP and its ideological mentor, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh. He took part in the agitation for the Ram Temple and then went on to become a sarpanch at the age of 27.
Mr Sharma, who has also held various posts in the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, has always kept a low profile and is seen as an organisation man.
The BJP 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 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.