Bhajanlal Sharma, the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan, is a first-time MLA from Sanganer constituency in Jaipur district. He defeated his nearest rival, Pushpendra Bhardwaj of Congress, by a margin of over 40,000 votes in the Assembly elections 2023.

Sharma, 56, is a businessman and a railway employee. He owns a firm named Shri Krishna Kanhaiya & Company, which deals in iron and steel products. He also works as a senior section engineer in the Railway Ministry of Government of India.

Sharma is considered to be a loyalist of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological mentor of the BJP. He has been associated with the RSS since his childhood and has participated in various activities and movements of the Sangh. He had taken part in the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP)’s march to Srinagar to protest the attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in 1990 and had courted arrest. Later, he also went to jail during the Ram Temple agitation in 1992.

Sharma is also known for his social work and philanthropy. He runs a charitable trust named Shri Krishna Kanhaiya Sewa Sansthan, which provides free education, health care, and food to the poor and needy. He has also donated land and money for the construction of temples, schools, and hospitals in his area.

Sharma is married to Sunita Sharma, who is a homemaker. They have two sons and a daughter. His elder son, Ankit Sharma, is a software engineer in the US, while his younger son, Abhishek Sharma, is a civil engineer in Dubai. His daughter, Anjali Sharma, is a doctor in Jaipur.

Sharma was announced as the new Chief Minister of Rajasthan by the BJP on December 12, 2023, after the party won 115 seats out of 200 in the state Assembly elections. He was sworn in on December 13, 2023, along with two deputy chief ministers, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa.

Sharma is the 15th Chief Minister of Rajasthan and the second Dalit to hold the post. The first Dalit Chief Minister of the state was Jagannath Pahadia of the Congress, who was in office from 1980 to 1981.

Sharma has promised to work for the development and welfare of all sections of the society, especially the farmers, youth, women, and minorities. He has also vowed to implement the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president JP Nadda in the state.