Gulab Chand Kataria elected Leader of Opposition in Rajasthan Assembly, Rajendra Rathore to be his deputy

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator Gulab Chand Kataria on Sunday was unanimously chosen as the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Rajasthan Assembly. The development came after a meeting of BJP MLAs at a party office in Jaipur this morning. Union HRD minister and party's poll in-charge in the state Prakash Javadekar, national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi, party's state president Madan Lal Saini were present in the meeting.

The 74-year-old was also elected the leader of the BJP legislature party while seven-time MLA Rajendra Rathore was chosen as his deputy. Former chief minister Vasundhara Raje proposed the name of Kataria as the leader of BJP legislature party, which was seconded by the party MLAs unanimously.

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Speaking to the reporters, BJP national general secretary Arun Singh said there was only one proposal for the post, adding that Rathore was chosen as the deputy leader by Kataria.

Kataria, who will also be the pro-tem speaker to conduct the first meeting of the newly elected assembly, is an eight-time MLA and was the home minister in the former Vasundhara Raje government. Kataria was first elected as MLA in 1977, then in 1980. He has won all assembly elections since 1993, remaining a member of the house. Governor Kalyan Singh will administer him to take the oath of office on Monday. Rathore has earlier served as the parliamentary affairs minister in the state.

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Last week, the BJP elected former Cabinet minister Gopal Bhargava the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Madhya Pradesh Assembly. On the other hand, former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been assigned with the works related to the preparation and campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha Election 2019. He has been also included in the national Sankalp Patra committee.

(With inputs from agencies)