By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net,
Bhopal: Ebullient Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the mascot of Bharatiya Janata Party, (BJP), in the just concluded Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha elections began his second innings when Governor Dr. Balram Jakhar administered the oath of office of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and secrecy here on Monday evening.
There were joyous scenes witnessed at the massive gathering of party workers, industrialists and others who had converged from all over the state at the Jamboree Maidan here in Bhopal, the venue of the oath ceremony.
Chouhan was BJP’s chief ministerial candidate and his election as legislature party leader, which was held on December 10, was merely a formality, which the newly-elected MLAs completed in a short time.
Party leaders termed five factors — local situation, local issues, selection of local as candidate, local state leadership and the state government’s performance played a crucial role in BJP’s success.
Chouhan took the oath in the presence of BJP Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Lal Krishna Advani, BJP national president Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi, Jaswant Singh, Ananth Kumar, Ms Hema Malini, Ms Smriti Irani, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ram Lal, Prakash Javdekar, Madhya Pradesh BJP president Narendra Singh Tomar, former chief ministers Sundarlal Patwa, Babulal Gaur and Kailash Joshi apart from state organising secretary Makhan Singh, Prabhat Jha, Anil Dave, Thawar Chand Gehlot, Mrs. Kamla Advani and Ms Pratibha Advani.
The Chief Ministers of the other states who were specially present on the occasion included Chhattisgarh’s Raman Singh, Uttaranchal’s Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri, Punjab’s Parkash Singh Badal and Bihar’s Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Modi.
Members of the outgoing ministry, outgoing MLAs, newly-elected MLAs, senior BJP leaders and workers were also present. Musician Ravindra Jain and his cultural troupe came out with Bhajans on the occasion. Dances of various regions of Madhya Pradesh were also presented. Heads of various religions were also present to bless Chief Minister Chouhan, who took the blessings of the religious heads and saints for giving a fillip to the development and welfare of the state.
The Jamboree Maidan reverberated with the National Song and slogans of “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. The oath-taking ceremony was conducted by Chief Secretary to the Government of Madhya Pradesh Rakesh Sahni. Meanwhile, Chouhan after taking the oath met industrialists, who had come to attend the function. Speaking to industrialists he said efforts made for industrialization in the state during his last tenure would continue. He said apart from agro-based industries other industries would also be given impetus.
Born on March 5, 1959, Chouhan replaced Babulal Gaur as the Chief Minister on 29 November 2005. He has been a five-time Member of Parliament, representing Vidisha in the Lok Sabha since 1991. At present, he represents Budhni, a tehsil place in Sehore District of Madhya Pradesh in the state assembly. Besides this, he has also served as General Secretary of the BJP and State president, Madhya Pradesh BJP. He joined the Rashtriya Swyamsevak Sangh, (RSS), in 1997.
Chouhan was a gold medallist in M. A. (Philosophy) from the Barkatullah University, Bhopal. His father’s name is Prem Singh Chouhan and mother’s name is Mrs. Sundar Bai Chouhan. He was married to Mrs. Sadhana Singh in 1992. They have two sons. ([email protected])