Since the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returned to power in Rajasthan by winning 115 seats out of the 199 Assembly constituencies, one name is making the rounds in political corridors. He is trending on microblogging sites, and his followers expect him to be the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. Vasundhara Raje is a veteran leader and also a grassroots-level leader of the BJP; she has her strength and also deserving candidature. She has held two terms as the chief minister of Rajasthan. She was previously a minister in the Union Cabinet of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was India’s first Minister of Small-Scale Industries and Agro and Rural Industries, which are now known as Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises. In 2003, she became the first woman to serve as the Chief Minister of the state of Rajasthan. She is currently one of the national vice presidents of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). A member of the Scindia family, she is also the matriarch of the Bamraulia family of Dholpur.
Balak Nath is not as seasoned or experienced as Vasundhara is, but for some strange reason, the voters of the state want change in the leadership. Even the top leaders of the BJP do not want her to be in the top post but they are not in a mood to take any risk by irking her at this moment. The big question in front of the saffron party is which candidate will become the next Chief Minister. The BJP has not put forward any potential candidates for the Chief Minister position in this year’s assembly polls. Balak Nath, who wears saffron clothes, is considered one of the firebrand leaders of the BJP. He remains in the headlines for his aggressive stance on the Hindutva agenda. He is quite famous among the masses because of his firebrand image. Baba Balaknath belongs to the OBC category.
Balak Nath’s popularity in Alwar is huge. Coming from an agricultural family, he took his first steps into sannyasa at the tender age of six-and-a-half, prompting him to leave home and seek solace in an ashram. He was named Gurumukh by Baba Khetanath at an early age. Balak Nath’s political foray was shaped by his Guru, Mahant Chandnath, a former Member of Parliament from Alwar. Following in his mentor’s footsteps, Balak Nath succeeded him as the head of the Baba Mastnath Mutt in Haryana. A key influence in his political journey is also the support of yoga guru Baba Ramdev. As Balak Nath traverses the campaign trail, a dedicated team from Mahendragarh in Haryana accompanies him, underscoring the widespread backing he enjoys.
He was nominated as a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate for Lok Sabha from Alwar, Rajasthan, and he won the elections in 2019 by defeating Bhanwar Jitendra Singh of the Indian National Congress by a margin of 3 lakh votes. Balak Nath is also a Member of Parliament (MP) from the Alwar Lok Sabha constituency. He is also called ‘Yogi of Rajasthan’. He contested against Congress’s Imran Khan and won. Balak Nath is being considered for the Chief Ministerial race if the BJP secures a majority.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Baba Balaknath became an MP for the first time after defeating veteran Congress leader Bhanwar Jitendra Singh from Alwar. The name ‘Baba’ got a bumper boost in the corridor of politics after giving the contract to the veteran leader of Congress. Recently, Balak Nath came into the limelight when he threatened the DSP of the Rajasthan Police by storming into the police station. Disgruntled with taking custody of a BJP worker, the MP said to the DSP, Mera naam yad rakhana. There are three people on my list; one is an MLA from here, Thanedar of Uttara, and now you are also on my list. Baba Balaknath has a good grip in the surrounding area and he is also very popular among the people for his Hindutva agenda. After Yogi Aditya Nath became the CM of Uttar Pradesh, the people of Rajasthan saw him as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan. The elite class of Rajasthan does not want hooligans ruling the state.
Soon, we will know who will be the next CM of the state. The discussion on this has also intensified. Some think tanks also predicted that Vasundhara was going to be the next deserving CM of Rajasthan. 25 Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs met her to give their support. Almost all the legislators are with her. Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Arjun Meghwal, and party MPs Baba Balaknath and Diya Kumari, who also won assembly polls, are among the contenders for the CM’s post but I feel Vasundhara is deserving amongst all these contenders because she has experience ruling the state and one cannot refute her huge contribution towards the development of the state.
