Ashok Gehlot swears in as Rajasthan Chief Minister, Sachin Pilot deputy CM
Jaipur: Veteran politician and senior Congress leader Ashok Gehlot today took oath as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Congress President Sachin Pilot, who was also eyeing for the Chief Ministerial post, took oath as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state.
The swearing-in ceremony took place at the historic Albert Hall in Jaipur.
Congress President Rahul Gandhi attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new chief minister of Rajasthan.
Fomrer prime minister Manmohan Singh and H D Deve Gowda were also present at the swearing-in ceremony.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, NCP's Sharad Pawar, LJD leader Sharad Yadav, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah, RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav, DMK leader M K Stalin, JMM leader Hemant Soren, JVM leader Babulal Marandi were among others who were present at the ceremony.
(Photo: Twitter | @ashokgehlot51)
BJP leader and former chief minister of Rajasthan Vasundhara Raje was also present at Gehlot's swearing-in ceremony.
On December 11, the Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 99 out of 199 seats in Rajasthan.
About Rajasthan new Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot:
Ashok Gehlot is the fourth leader to become chief minister of Rajasthan for a third time. Mohan Lal Sukhadia (Congress) was the chief minister of the state for four times, while Hari Dev Joshi (Congress) and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (BJP) were three-time chief ministers in the state.
67-year-old Ashok Gehlot first became the chief minister of the state in 1998.
Gehlot's second stint as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan was from 2008-2013.
Apart from being the CM twice earlier, he has won a series of Lok Sabha and assembly elections from the state and headed the Rajasthan Pradesh Congress Committee four times.
Gehlot was first elected to Parliament in 1980, and went on to win Lok Sabha elections four more times.
Since 1999, he has represented the Sardarpura Assembly constituency, winning five consecutive terms in the House.
At the Centre, Gehlot has served as a minister of state in the ministries of tourism, civil aviation, sports and textiles, in different stints between 1982 and 1993.
He was also the AICC general secretary in charge of Delhi and the party's Sewa Dal from 2004-2009 and member of the Congress Working Committee looking after Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Ashok Gehlot is a graduate in science, a postgraduate in economics and has studied law. He is married to Sunita Gehlot and has a daughter and a son.
