New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan is unlikely to get another term as Chief Minister, despite having led the party to a spectacular victory in the assembly election, results of which were announced Sunday, ThePrint has learnt.
Multiple leaders in Delhi BJP told ThePrint that the party high command is not inclined to give Chouhan — the incumbent CM at the time of last month’s elections — a fifth term in office and is looking at other options.
“He (Chouhan) has served [as CM] for over 18 years and delivered, too. But new faces also need to be given a chance and we need to groom them. These results have given us a chance to make a shift. There are many considerations, as Chouhan is a tall leader and comes from the OBC [other backward class] community. So, all these factors will have to be weighed in before a final decision is taken,” a top BJP functionary told ThePrint.
The functionary added that Prahlad Singh Patel, union minister and OBC leader, was emerging as the front-runner among contenders to the CM’s chair, although many other names are being discussed. Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya are also said to be among the aspirants.
“Nothing can be ruled out as yet,” the functionary further said.
In a video message Tuesday, Chouhan said that he was “never a contender” for the CM’s post, “neither earlier, nor today”.
“I am fortunate that I am a BJP worker. BJP has a mission of national reconstruction and as workers we are at it day and night. I consider myself fortunate that [Prime Minister] Narendra Modi ji is our leader and I have got the opportunity to work with him,” said the incumbent CM, who proved his enduring popularity in the assembly election.
Relatively young at 64, Chouhan was being seen in party circles as the natural choice to head the next government after the BJP’s stunning poll victory Sunday. For many, the victory is an endorsement of the popularity of Chouhan’s governance and welfare schemes, especially the Ladli Behna financial assistance scheme he introduced earlier this year.
However, the BJP leadership seems to have other ideas for the state’s next CM.
BJP leaders in Delhi also told ThePrint that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh too were out of the race for the CM’s chair.
The BJP had won in these two states too Sunday.
According to a senior party leader in Delhi, these three states provide the BJP an opportunity to consolidate its reach among specific communities ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
“These elections have given us an opportunity to give specific leaders from different communities responsibilities as chief ministers, deputy chief ministers and ministers. All this is being debated and things will be finalised soon,” the leader said.
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‘A new CM face’
In these three states, the BJP instead of projecting a chief ministerial face, had based its campaign on “collective leadership”, which was seen as a euphemism for new leadership in these states.
While Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the face of the campaigns here, in MP, Chouhan continued to lead from the front, addressing over 160 meetings.
The party won 163 seats of 230 assembly seats in MP.
Meanwhile, in Rajasthan, Raje has been flexing her muscles after the party won 115 of 199 seats.
Over the past two days the former Rajasthan CM is learnt to have met around 65 BJP MLAs, in what is being seen as a show of strength.
The BJP leadership, however, is learnt to be inclined more towards going for a new CM face in the state.
Union ministers Arjun Ram Meghwal and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MPs Diya Kumari, Rajyavardhan Rathore and C.P. Joshi, and Baba Balaknath — said to be “Rajasthan’s Yogi Adityanath” — are said to be front runners for the post here.
In Chhattisgarh, BJP sources said the high command was looking for a candidate among two tribal leaders — Union minister Renuka Singh and former state BJP chief Vishnu Deo Sai — and two OBC leaders, state BJP president and MP Arun Sao and former IAS officer O.P. Choudhary.
“Tribal votes constitute 32 percent [of all votes] in Chhattisgarh and we had a washout in 2018 but, this time around, we emerged victorious,” said a party functionary from Chhattisgarh. “The issue that is being discussed is whether to have an OBC or a tribal face as the CM,” he added.
According to sources, also under discussion is a scenario where the party opts for an OBC CM, and a tribal leader deputy CM, or vice-versa.
The BJP has won 54 of the state’s 90 assembly seats.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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