Shivraj Singh Chouhan sworn in as Madhya Pradesh CM

Bhopal: Shivraj Singh Chouhan was sworn-in as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister for third consecutive term on Saturday, nearly a week after he led BJP to a spectacular hat-trick in Assembly elections.

54-year-old Chouhan was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Madhya Pradesh Governor Ram Naresh Yadav at a ceremony held at Jamboree ground here, shortly after noon.

The entire BJP top brass, including its prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, party chief Rajnath Singh, veteran L K Advani and senior leaders of its allies Shiv Sena and Shiromani Akali Dal attended the swearing in ceremony, amid tight security arrangements.

Known for maintaining a low-profile, Chouhan led the BJP to win an impressive 165 seats in 230-member legislative assembly reducing Congress tally to just 58 from 71 in 2008. Banners, posters, flags and pamphlets carrying Chouhan pictures were put alongside roads, markets and the venue.

The oath-taking ceremony was attended by Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh, among others.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje Scindia, Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parriker and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also attended the function. Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and TDP president Chandrababu Naidu, who is of late cozying up to the saffron party, was also present along with industrialist Anil Ambani.

Chouhan was unanimously elected leader of BJP's legislature wing, paving the way for him to take over as Chief Minister for a fresh term.

Born on March 5, 1959 in a farmer's family at village Jait in Sehore district, Chouhan successfully cultivated his image as the common man's chief minister and took the BJP to a record hat-trick in the state.

He contested this year's assembly elections from two constituencies-- Budhni and Vidisha and retained both the seats with a good margin. Chouhan defeated his rival Congress candidate Shashank Bhargava by 16,966 votes in Vidisha constituency and also won traditional Budhni seat by a margin of whopping 84,805 votes against rival Mahendra Singh Chouhan of Congress.

Today's function was also attended by BJP leaders Murli Manohar Joshi, Venkaiah Naidu, Nitin Gadkari, Ravishankar Prasad, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Smriti Irani, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thakre, among others.