ELECTIONS

Vasundhara will be Rajasthan's first woman CM

By Onkar Singh in Jaipur
December 04, 2003 19:59 IST

Vasundhara Raje Scindia will take over as the first woman chief minister of Rajasthan on December 8.

Scindia, who is the president of Bharatiya Janata Party in the state, led the party to a rousing victory in the assembly polls.

She will be formally elected as the party leader at the December 5 meeting of the newly elected legislators.

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Union Finance Minister Jaswant Singh and party general secretary Pramod Mahajan will oversee her election.

Addressing her first news conference after the party's landslide victory she claimed the BJP had not ridden the anti-incumbency wave.

"Let me make it clear that we have not won on the anti-incumbency factor alone. The people of Rajasthan have voted for development. Development that they had seen during the rule of BJP in previous years," she said.

Asked what would she do for women, Scindia said, "In the last assembly election 57 per cent of women had voted. This time around 61 per cent women voters exercised their franchise. With so many women behind me they would receive top attention."

She refused any comment on outgoing Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Asked whether her government will take action against 'corrupt' former ministers and legislator, she said, "I need time to address this question."

She admitted that poll surveys had given her something to think about.

"Whenever I said that we would get 115 seats or more mediapersons would ask me where would the seats come from? Now we have been proved right. I thank the media for keeping us on our toes. But we had an inkling that the BJP would sweep the polls. Few believed us then. Now things are for everyone to see," she said.

She was greeted at the party headquarters in Jaipur by senior state party leaders amid bursting of crackers and slogans of Jai Sri Ram and Chapa Chapa Bhajapa when she arrived from Jhalarapatan where she defeated Rama Pilot of the Congress by a margin of over 27,000 votes.

Onkar Singh in Jaipur
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