Madhya Pradesh: Shah’s Statement Puts Brake on Speculations over Shivraj Returning to MP Politics
Mr. Shah while addressing the ‘MP Growth Summit’ at Gwalior in the state on Thursday had said that MP was a ‘Bimaru’ (laggard) state when the Congress was in power.
Bhopal: Union home minister Amit Shah’s recent unusual comparison between Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and Union agriculture minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, finding the incumbent CM more energetic than his predecessor Mr. Chouhan, has put a brake on speculations of Mr. Chouhan returning to state politics.
Mr. Shah while addressing the ‘MP Growth Summit’ at Gwalior in the state on Thursday had said that MP was a ‘Bimaru’ (laggard) state when the Congress was in power.
However, the tag of ‘Bimaru’ state was removed during the BJP rule in Madhya Pradesh, he said while giving the credit for it to four-time chief minister Mr. Chouhan.
Mr. Shah however was effusive in his praise of Mr. Yadav for his innovative initiatives to ensure balanced development of the state by holding regional industry conclaves to woo investments for different regions in the state.
Mr. Yadav is more energetic than his predecessor Mr. Chouhan, Mr. Shah had said.
The recent decision by the Centre to scale up Mr. Chouhan’s security on the ground of threat perception from Pakistan had given rise to speculations that the Central BJP leadership is toying with the idea of sending him back to MP as replacement of Mr. Yadav in the CM post.
Even leading local Hindi and English dailies ran stories suggesting Mr. Chouhan’s possible return to Madhya Pradesh politics despite frequent denials to such reports by the party leaders, of course, unofficially.
Mr. Chouhan’s frequent visits to Madhya Pradesh in recent times to attend official and private functions have also added grist to the rumour mill in this regard.
Such speculations in fact surface and then peter out very often after BJP leadership chose Mr. Yadav as chief minister of MP, dashing the hopes of Mr. Chouhan to become CM for a record fifth time when the party retained power in the state in the 2023 Assembly polls.
“Such speculations petered out even faster than they surfaced. The recent move by the Centre to upgrade Mr. Chouhan’s security was the latest provocation for giving birth to such remours”, a senior BJP functionary told this newspaper here on Friday.
But Mr. Shah’s statement has put a brake on such a speculation, he added.