Bhopal: ‘Sixty five’ is not the age to press the refresh button in one’s career. But, sexagenarian BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan, a four-time chief minister, is bold enough to ‘reset’ his goal in life at his current age to re-enter national politics.
The never-say-die leader looks upon Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency, considered one of the saffron citadels in the country, in Madhya Pradesh to enter the lower house of the parliament after a gap of two decades in this poll by dumping his dream of clinging to state politics ‘till my last breath’.
“I accept whatever responsibility the party assigns to me”, has been his constant refrain in his election addresses in Vidisha.
Chouhan, known as a fitness freak, was replaced with two-time MLA Mohan Yadav as chief minister after BJP won a landslide victory in the November, 2023 Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh.
He was then kept in the dark about his future role by the BJP high command, leaving him frustrated.
“I would rather die than ask anything for me from Delhi (referring to BJP high command)”, he used to say while waiting for his ‘suitable rehabilitation’ by the party.
The party has then fielded him in Vidisha LS seat to move him to Delhi from state politics.
“I want to take him (Mr Chouhan to Delhi) with me”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recently said while addressing an election meeting in the state where Mr Chouhan was present.
Chouhan wasted no time to begin preparations for the polls as soon as he was declared candidate from Vidisha by BJP and started touring the constituency as if he is making debut in electoral politics.
He had represented Vidisha LS seat five times earlier.
Congress has fielded former MP Pratap Bhanu Sharma, a Brahmin, in the seat considering the sizable population of the community in the constituency.
Willy Chouhan has created a ripple in Congress by successfully wooing the party veteran and former Union minister Suresh Pachouri, considered the Brahmin face of the grand old party in Madhya Pradesh, to join BJP to nip in the bud any move by it to play Brahmin card to wrest the seat from BJP.
Around 2,000 Congress activists in Vidisha subsequently joined BJP following Mr Pachouri’s footsteps.
Vidisha LS seat near Bhopal has always been considered a BJP stronghold, represented even by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1991) and Sushma Swaraj (2009 and 2014).
The seat has remained with BJP since 1967 barring in 1980 and 1984 Lok Sabha polls when the incumbent Congress candidate was elected from the constituency.
Besides the profile of the seat, Chouhan enjoys considerable influence over the women voters for undertaking various welfare schemes for them when he was the chief minister.
“Chouhan is eyeing the biggest victory in the polls in the state in Vidisha”, a close aide of the BJP leader said.
