The Bharatiya Janata Party effected a leadership change in Madhya Pradesh, passing the chief ministerial baton to Mohan Yadav, the education minister in the outgoing Shivraj Singh Chouhan state government. The transition marks the end of the tenure of Chouhan, the state's chief minister for most of the past 20 years, barring a 15-month period.
The decision was taken after BJP observers met with the newly elected party MLAs in the state.
The state will have two deputy chief ministers Jagdish Devda and Rajendra Shukla. Madhya Pradesh's new speaker will be Narendra Singh Tomar.
Mohan Yadav, a three-time MLA from Ujjain South, was a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet. The 58-year-old's political career began with his first election as an MLA in 2013. He was re-elected in the subsequent 2018 state assembly election. He was the former higher education minister of the state.
#WATCH | BJP leaders including Shivraj Singh Chauhan, congratulate party leader Mohan Yadav after he was named as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh pic.twitter.com/SibAIt4Cnh— ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2023
After being elected the chief minister-designate, Yadav said, “I am a grassroots worker of the party. I thank all of you, the state leadership and the central leadership. With your love and support, I will try to fulfil my responsibilities."
Also read: Meet Mohan Yadav
His name comes as a surprise as the front runners for the top post were four-time MP CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Prahlad Patel, newly-elected Dimani MLA Narendra Tomar, Indore heavyweight Kailash Vijayvargiya, state unit chief VD Sharma and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Recent win
In the recent 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election, Yadav won again from the Ujjain South constituency. He got 95,699 votes, winning by 12,941 votes over Congress candidate Chetan Premnarayan Yadav.
Yadav belongs to the other backward class (OBC) category. With his appointment, the BJP hopes to woo the OBC community, which forms over half the electorate in the state.
The meeting was headed by Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, national secretary Asha Lakra and Rajya Sabha MP K Laxman, who were announced as party observers for the state. The observers held one-on-one meetings with senior state leaders and legislators.
BJP retained Madhya Pradesh at a canter winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly, leaving the Congress a distant second with 66 seats.
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