Bhairon Singh Shekhawat - Political Life

Political Life

Referred to as "Rajasthan ka ek hi Singh" (The only lion of Rajasthan) or "Babosa" (Head of the family of Rajasthan), Bhairon Singh Shekhawat entered politics in 1952. Although he posed a threat to the Indian National Congress (INC) in Rajasthan, that party prevailed until 1977. In that year his Janata Party won 151 of the 200 seats in the state assembly elections of Rajasthan and Shekhawat took over as the first non Congress Chief Minister of Rajasthan in 1977.

There was a split in 1980 and Shekhawat joined the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). The fragmentation of opposition to the INC enabled it to win the elections of 1980 and 1984. However, in 1989 an alliance between the BJP and the Janata Dal won all 25 of the Rajasthan seats in the Lok Sabha and also 140 seats in the Assembly. Shekhawat once again became Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

In the next elections in the year 1993, after the split in the alliance, Shekhawat led the BJP to be the single largest party, winning 96 seats. Three BJP-supported independents also won seats and other independents who supported the BJP took its total to 116. The support of independent members enabled Shekhawat to overcome Congress opposition to his attempts to form a government.

Shekhawat's BJP government lost the 1998 state assembly elections due to the onion price rise issue but the party won 16 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats from Rajasthan in 1999. Shekhawat was elected as the Vice President of India in 2002, when he defeated the opposition candidate, Sushil Kumar Shinde by a margin of 149 votes out of the 750 votes polled.

In July 2007, Shekhawat fought the Presidential election as an independent candidate backed by National Democratic Alliance as a popular Presidential candidate next to APJ Abdul Kalam; but lost to the United Progressive Alliance-Left backed candidate Pratibha Patil. Following his defeat, Shekhawat resigned from the post of Vice-President on 21 July 2007.