Bhopal, Dec 12 (IANS) On the eve of the swearing-in ceremony of the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister-designate Mohan Yadav and his two Deputy CMs Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda, the outgoing CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan made his farewell speech on Wednesday.

A large number of supporters, specifically women assembled at his official residence to bid a farewell to the longest-serving CM of the state.

Emotional scenes were witnessed as many of the supporters could be seen wiping their tears.

As many of the women told him that they had voted in order to make him the Chief Minister again, Chouhan tried to console them saying, "It’s not the end."

This remark created a buzz because the people present there took it as a signal that even though Chouhan did not get the top job he was not leaving politics and might be back at the helm again in future.

Political observers also believe that Chouhan will bounce back soon enough.

Before meeting his supporters, Chouhan addressed a press conference and was asked why he did not visit Delhi after the BJP registered a landslide victory on December 3. Responding to that question Chouhan said, “One thing I say with great humility, that I would rather die than go and ask for something for myself. That's not my job. That's why I had said that I will not go to Delhi.”

The outgoing CM further termed questions about him contesting the Lok Sabha elections as a figment of people’s imagination and added that he would abide by the party's decision and was committed to a larger mission.

When asked if the BJP had done injustice with him by not giving him a fifth term as the CM, Chouhan replied that the party had entrusted him with the top job for 18 years.

"The BJP kept an ordinary worker as a CM for 18 years. No one sees the other side. The BJP gave me everything, now the time has come to reciprocate and give back to the party. Why can't this be the thinking?” he added.

Notably, the BJP on Monday picked the three-time MLA from Ujjain South Assembly seat for the Madhya Pradesh CM’s post.

Congratulating Mohan Yadav for getting the top job, Chouhan said, "I am confident that under the leadership of CM Mohan Yadav, the BJP Government will complete the ongoing projects in the state. In terms of progress and development, Madhya Pradesh will achieve new heights. I will keep supporting him.”

Bhopal, Oct 18 (IANS) As the BJP and Congress get ready for a bipolar battle in Madhya Pradesh scheduled for November 17, both present a contrasting strategy in the context of deciding the leadership role in their state units and the process in selecting candidates.

For the first time in the past three decades or more, the ruling BJP is contesting the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh without declaring the chief ministerial face despite having the strongest leader and the longest incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. 

In 2003, the BJP had announced fire-brand Hindutva leader Uma Bharti as the party's CM face nearly a year ahead of the elections. In the next three consecutive elections -- 2008, 2013 and 2018, the saffron party never shied away from projecting Shivraj Singh Chouhan as the CM face and gave him free hand in deciding candidates and campaigning. 

However, after getting defeated in 2018, the BJP’s central leadership seems to have changed its strategy and decided to contest the 2023 election directly under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. On the other hand, the BJP also kept the race for CM's post open with fielding several contests, including the Union Ministers and national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. 

Senior journalist N.K. Singh said the BJP has always followed the ideology of collective leadership and does not promote individualism. But, the things have changed a lot and for the last two decades, no other leader could establish himself to challenge the incumbent CM Chouhan. 

"Whoever tried to challenge CM Chouhan, either has been sidelined or departed from the state's politics. But, when the BJP lost in 2018, the BJP's central leadership (PM Narendra Modi and Amit Shah), which was very different from in previous time (Atal Bihari Bajpayi and L.K. Advani) seems to have taken full command in Madhya Pradesh's politics," he added.

Singh further stated that at present, MP BJP is facing high factionalism, but except Shivraj Singh Chouhan there is no other leader who can bring the majority or challenge the central leadership. "Narratives have always played a crucial role in Assembly elections, especially states like Madhya Pradesh where more than half of the population are struggling to meet basic needs, which is the reason, BJP has decided to face-fatigue Shivraj Singh Chouhan." 

On the other hand, the situation is quite a contrast in the Congress, which has declared state unit chief Kamal Nath as the chief ministerial face. Political observers said it was the first time after 1998 or 2003, the Congress had declared its chief ministerial face months before the elections.

Veteran journalist Law Kumar Mishra said after completing the first tenure of Digvijaya Singh’s government (1993-1998), the factionalism was high in the Congress and Digvijaya Singh had to face challenges from his party colleagues -- Motilal Vora and Arjun Singh.

Mishra claimed, in 1998 election Digvijaya Singh was obviously leading the party campaign, but it wasn’t clear if he would win the second tenure as there were two other big leaders -- Arjun Singh and Motilal Vora who were also racing for the CM's post.

"But, when the counting started and by 2 p.m., it was clear that BJP’s big leaders. including Kailash Joshi lost the election, and around a dozen independent candidates had won the election. In that situation, Congress leadership tasked Digvijaya Singh to bring all Independent MLAs to support the Congress. He did it and then he was declared the CM face,” Mishra recalled. 

The Congress lost the election in 2003, and in the next two elections -- 2008, 2013 -- the grand old party continued to suffer because of high factionalism of its regional leaders and growing individualism which gave opportunity to the BJP to become more stronger in Madhya Pradesh. 

Mishra further said, but in 2018, Kamal Nath, who has a strong backing of the Gandhi family, took charge of Madhya Pradesh Congress and reestablished the party. "The Congress managed to defeat the BJP after 15 years in 2018 , but the CM face was decided after the intervention of the central leadership," he added. 

Similarly, the contrast for the selection of candidates are also visible in the BJP and the Congress. The BJP's candidates were selected from the state leadership, and then the central leadership used to give approval for the same, while in Congress, the situation was quite in contrary. 

"But, this time the situation is very different and it is because of a change in central leadership. The Congress' central leadership is not the same as it used to be earlier, while the BJP's central leadership has put Atal-Advani's liberal policy aside," Mishra added. 

Bhopal, Oct 15 (IANS) The Congress has fielded young television actor Vikram Mastal, who is popular for his portrayal of Hanuman in Anand Sagar’s ‘Ramayan’, against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the upcoming Madhya Pradesh elections.

Vikram hails from Salkanpur village in Budhni assembly constituency in Sehore district. He belongs to the Brahmin family (Sharma), but he adopted the surname ‘Mastal’ due to television serials he worked with.           

Notably, state Congress president Kamal Nath, who has presented himself as a devotee of Lord Hanuman, apparently fielded Mastal to counter the BJP’s Hindutva ideology. Political observers also say that the Congress has played an ideological stroke with fielding Mastal against Chouhan. 

“Vikram Mastal may not be a big political face against Shivraj Singh Chouhan, but his reel life character has a large canvas which will help the party to create an impression across the state. Any political attack against Mastal will be presented as an attack on his reel-life character -- Lord Hanuman and that perception may help to corner the BJP’s Hindutva ideology,” a Congress worker from Budhni said.

The political observers also said that Mastal has the tough job of taking on Chief Minister Chouhan from the Budhni seat in Sehore district, which is Chouhan stronghold.

He joined the Congress in July, and was one among many who condemned the language used by the character of Hanuman in the Bollywood movie ‘Adipurush’.

“I am thankful to the Congress for showing trust in me. I would go to the people of Budhni with local issues. I would ask people what they have gained after supporting the Chief Minister Chouhan for nearly two decades. Will ask people why Sehore’s youths did not get jobs despite the fact that the Chief Minister belongs to their district,” Mastal told IANS.

Mastal, who appeared alongside Gurmeet Choudhary and Debina Bonnerjee in Ramayan, has featured in the movie ‘Top Gear’ (2022), web series Battle of ‘Saragarhi’ (2017) and ‘Ashram’ (2020).

Chief Minister Chouhan has won five assembly elections (1990, 2006, 2008, 2013 and 2018). Importantly, Budhni assembly is one of the strongest seats of the ruling BJP for more than 20 years. The Congress won the Budhni seat last time in 1980 when K. N. Pradhan contested on Congress ticket.

In the last election, the Congress had fielded former MP Arun Yadav, the son of former minister and strong OBC leader of his time Subhash Yadav. However, Chouhan won the election with a margin of around 59,000 votes.

The only positive note for the Congress was that the winning percentage of Chouhan declined by around 9.7 per cent in comparison to his victory in 2013. In 2018, Chouhhan got 1,23,492 votes, while Arun Yadav got 64,493 votes.

In the 2013 assembly election, Chouhan got 1,28,730 votes, while Congress’ Mahendra Singh Chouha got 43,925 votes.