Emotional MP CM Chouhan tells women they will miss their 'brother'

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan turned emotional at an event on home turf Budhni in Sehore district and told the women in the gathering they would never get a "brother" like him and would miss him when he is not around.

Speaking at an event last week in Khargone, Chouhan had turned emotional similarly and had said he had no greed for any post and would be happy if his "flesh and bones could come of use to people".

"Meri behno, aisa bhaiya tumhe milega nahi. Jab main chala jaunga, tab tumhe yaad aaunga (sisters, you will not find a brother like this. When I leave, you will miss me)," he said at an event in Ladkul in his Assembly seat Budhni on Sunday.

Assembly polls are set to be held at the end of the year in the state.

His efforts to strike an emotional chord with the public with such statements come at a time when there is speculation about whether he will be chief minister if the BJP wins in the state.

His name has not figured in the first two list of 78 candidates announced by the BJP for the upcoming polls.

Incidentally, the 78 names include those of Union Ministers Narendra Sinmgh Tomar, Prahlad Patel and Faggan Singh Kulaste, as well as Indore strongman Kailash Vijayvargiya, all political heavyweights and contenders for the chief minister's post.

Hitting back, MP Congress chief Kamal Nath said Chouhan will be remembered for his "lies and (hollow) announcements".

Nath's colleague and former MP Congress president Arun Yadav said Chouhan's statements indicate the BJP is going to be voted out of power in the upcoming polls.

"I have heard his statement. This shows the BJP government is going to get voted out," Yadav, a former Union minister, asserted.

In several of his recent speeches, Chouhan has claimed he runs a family and not a government.

During a press conference in August, when asked if Chouhan would be chief ministerial face of the party, Union Home minister and key party strategist Amit Shah had counter questioned the media on why it was doing the "party's work (choosing persons for posts)".

Shah had further said the need during election time was to take the development works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and CM Chouhan to the electorate.

Senior journalist and political commentator Rasheed Kidwai said Chouhan's statement at Ladkul indicates his days as CM are numbered.

"There is no plausible explanation for his exit because the BJP has been talking about the Shivraj model and crediting the (state government's) Ladli Behna scheme (in which more than a crore eligible women get Rs 1,250 per month) as a game changer," Kidwai said.

Chouhan, while addressing the gathering at Ladkul, had also said he changed the definition of politics in MP.

"I have changed the definition of politics in Madhya Pradesh. You have seen Congress rule for years. Have you ever seen them caring for the public," Chouhan had asked the crowd.

Chouhan has been CM since 2005, with a break between December 2018 and March 2020 when Kamal Nath was on the top post heading a Congress government.

The poll schedule for MP has not been announced as yet.

During his visit here earlier last month, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the final voters' list for MP will be published on October 5.

In the 2018 polls, the Congress had won 114 seats in the 230-member Assembly and managed to form a coalition government. The BJP was victorious on 109 seats.