Mohan Yadav (58), a BJP MLA from Ujjain South, will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, the party announced on Monday. "I will fulfil the responsibility you have given to a small worker with your blessings… I am not worthy of the responsibility you have given to a small worker like me. However, with your love and blessings, I will try to fulfil that responsibility," Yadav, who defeated the rival Congress candidate by a margin of 12,941 votes and will succeed four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, said. He was elected at a meeting in Bhopal held in the evening in presence of BJP’s central observers. Yadav belongs to the dominant OBC community and is considered close to the RSS, factors which BJP leaders say helped him secure the top post. In picking him, BJP continued the tradition of fielding OBC Chief Ministers in the state – from Uma Bharti to Babulal Gaur to Chouhan. Ever since the results, speculation had been rife over who the next CM would be – Chouhan, whose ‘laadli behna’ scheme played a pivotal role in the party’s win, or a new face. #WATCH | Madhya Pradesh CM-designate Mohan Yadav meets Governor Mangubhai C. Patel at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal and stakes claim to form the government pic.twitter.com/AWkHiHGKvL — ANI (@ANI) December 11, 2023 According to Rakesh Singh, the MLA from Jabalpur, it was in fact Chouhan who “kept this proposal for the CM name”. “He (Yadav) is an able administrator. We expect him to carry forward the party’s development policies. The BJP has asked me to be a state legislator; I will fulfil my duties. I was never in the race myself,” Singh said. Chouhan offered his congratulations, signalling an amicable transfer of power: “I am confident that under the able guidance of respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi, you will take Madhya Pradesh to new heights of progress and development and will create new records in the field of public welfare. Many congratulations and best wishes for this new responsibility.” A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Ujjain for three terms, Yadav served as the education minister in the government under Chouhan. “We are very happy with this decision. He comes from the OBC background. This is a moment of pride; he is connected to the ground. We all come from Ujjain and are extremely hopeful he will take the state to new heights,” MLA Govind Singh Rajput said. In the evening, Yadav reached the residence of Governor Mangubhai Patel and staked claim to form the next government. Apart from Chouhan, who has of late thrown himself back into campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections, those believed to be in the race were Union Minister Prahlad Patel and BJP’s national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya. “This is for new energy, new hope, new development. In the new India that Modi ji is working for, Madhya Pradesh will lead as a model. The state under new leadership will fulfil his dreams,” Vijayvargiya told The Indian Express. The BJP also named two deputy chief ministers – eight-time MLA and former finance minister Jagdish Devda, who represents the Scheduled Caste reserved Malhargarh constituency in Mandsaur, and five-time MLA and ex-public relations minister Rajendra Shukla, a Brahmin leader who represents the Rewa constituency in the BJP bastion of Vindhya. Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who quit the Union cabinet after winning the state elections, will be the Assembly Speaker. Explaining the BJP decision, state secretary Rajneesh Aggarwal told The Indian Express, "The party wanted a generational change. That's why it did not choose Patel, Vijayvargiya or any other senior leader. More importantly, Yadav is an RSS man and has spent years working for the Sangh. He has a good connect with them. He was also an OBC leader which worked in his favour." The BJP, with these appointments, has attempted to balance caste and regional equations in the state. Yadav and Devda come from Malwa-Nimar, the bellwether region of the state with 66 seats. The BJP has given special attention to this region, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi spent a considerable time here during the last leg of the campaign. Devda belongs to the SC community, which makes up around 16% of the population and has 35 reserved seats in the state. The BJP won 26 of these seats in the recent polls. Shukla hails from Vindhya Pradesh, a BJP bastion, in which the party has won 25 of 30 seats. The party has been performing well in this region due to the unwavering support of the Brahmin and Kol tribe voters. According to party leaders, Shukla managed to edge out Sidhi MLA Riti Pathak, who had helped with damage control when a man with alleged BJP links was arrested for urinating on a tribal. Tomar is from the Gwalior-Chambal region, where the BJP retained 18 of 34 seats.
