‘Not a contender for CM post’: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said that he was not a contender for the post of chief minister in the past or now in Madhya Pradesh, a state where he has held the fort for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since 2005.

“I was not a contender for the post of chief minister in the past, nor am I today,” Chouhan told reporters while thanking voters for his party’s resounding victory. “I will not go to Delhi, I will go to Chhindwara. I have to start preparing for Lok Sabha. This time the BJP will also win the Chhindwara seat.”

Chhindwara is a family bastion of former chief minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath. His son Nakul Nath is the sitting Lok Sabha MP from the seat.

Chouhan’s statement has come at a time when all prominent state leaders are meeting national BJP president JP Nadda in Delhi to finalise the next chief minister. On Monday, Union ministers Prahlad Patel, Narendra Singh Tomar and the party national general secretary met Nadda, and state BJP president VD Sharma met him in Delhi on Tuesday.

“I am very lucky that I am a worker of BJP. The BJP is a mission of reconstruction of nation and being a worker, we are working day and night in this mission,” he said.

Praising Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the CM said, “I am lucky that Narendra Modi is our leader, and we are getting the opportunity to work with him.”

“As a worker, I tried to do with utmost honesty and to the best of my ability whatever work the BJP gave me… Going forward, I will do whatever work the party entrusts me with,” he added.