Not a CM contender, neither in past nor today, will do whatever I am told: Shivraj Chouhan

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 5

Caretaker chief minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday released a video statement saying he was never a CM contender, neither in the past nor today and has always discharged whatever duties the BJP had assigned to him.

“I am a simple party worker. I have never been a CM contender. I was not a CM contender in the past. I am not one today. In my capacity as a humble party worker I will discharge whatever role is given to me,” said Chouhan moments after welcoming a Ram Rath Yatra at his Bhopal residence where people shouted two slogans “Hamara mukhya mantri kaisa ho, Shivraj Chouhan jaisa ho”, and “Behnon ka bhai kaisa ho, Shivraj bhaiya jaisa ho”.

Chouhan said he was fortunate to be working under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership in the BJP, which was on a mission to rebuild India.

Last year, Chouhan had become the longest-serving BJP chief minister in the party’s history, surpassing Raman Singh’s record in Chhattisgarh.

Chouhan crafted the “Ladli Behna” scheme in March this year to give monthly cash to poor married, divorced and widowed women. The scheme was central to BJP’s comprehensive campaign, which had other winning elements, including the Modi factor, Hindutva, nationalism and development schemes for the beneficiaries.

Chouhan’s statement came amid hectic BJP parleys to select the new CM of MP where the BJP posted the second best performance this time after 2003 when it had won 173 seats out of 230 under Uma Bharti.

Chouhan, however, remains a top contender for the job.