Chauhan has little to argue about

For a man who lists “arguing with friends” as one of his hobbies, Shivraj Singh Chauhan indulges in very little arguing in public....

For a man who lists “arguing with friends” as one of his hobbies, Shivraj Singh Chauhan indulges in very little arguing in public.

The new Madhya Pradesh CM usually frowns when asked to smile, scowls if requested to speak and looks much older than his 46 years.

But despite his debating skills, Chauhan will find it difficult to argue his case if asked why Babulal Gaur has been replaced as Chief Minister and what he has done to merit being named his successor. The post was supposed to go to Uma Bharati or someone of her choice. The senior BJP leader regards Chauhan as a rival and Gaur does not consider him a friend either. But the new chief minister shouldn’t be too surprised at this.

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Chauhan was first elected to the Lok Sabha in 1991 from Vidisha because Atal Behari Vajpayee who won from Lucknow as well chose to give up the former seat. Vajpayee then campaigned aggressively to help Chauhan win the by-election; the latter has been representing Vidisha ever since.

The change of guard in Bhopal has been announced at a time when none of the major players was in the state capital.

Bharti and Chauhan, the BJP state unit chief, are camping in Delhi while Gaur was attending an official function in Indore. The outgoing chief minister was expected to return to Bhopal late tonight.

Chauhan, who belongs to Sihor district’s Jait village, is married with two sons. An M A (Philosophy) gold medalist, he started out as an RSS member in 1972 and was associated with the ABVP and Yuva Morcha before becoming the morcha’s national president in 2000.

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Chauhan owes his new post to Bharati detractors like Pramod Mahajan and Arun Jaitley, who did everything to prevent her from returning to the chief minister’s post she vacated in August 2004. His name started doing the rounds as a compromise candidate ever since Bharti staked her claim to the post last month.

But Chauhan got the first indication of what was in store when anonymous leaftlets started circulating in Bhopal levelling all sorts of allegations against him — a sign that he was tipped to be Gaur’s successor.

Chauhan kept a low profile during the political turmoil. Some MLAs and ministers started pushing his case when they realised Uma’s remove-Gaur campaign was serious and the BJP was not keen to re-appoint her as chief minister.

The Bhopal balance-sheet

		Up: RSS: Bharati had targetted its two important leaders — pointman for BJP Suresh Soni and BJP general secretary Sanjay Joshi — in a letter to Sarsanghchalak K.S. Sudarshan, which was leaked to media. Venkaiah Naidu: Bharati had a tiff with him after she suspected that he was sabotaging her Tiranga Yatra programmes. Arun Jaitley: Indirectly charged him with off-record briefings. Pramod Mahajan: Made insinuations about his corporate links. Down: A.B. Vajpayee: Was inclined in her favour. L.K. Advani: Was soft towards her. Jaswant Singh: Vehemently backed her. Story continues below this ad What might happen: Bharati can turn down the post of general secretary and criticise central party leaders or announce some dramatic action. Her supporters may raise a banner of revolt. The MLAs backing her may create a scene at legislature party meeting to be convened to elect Chauhan as the new leader.

India, US yet to find ‘landing ground’ for trade talks, our red lines must be respected: Jaishankar

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