By IANS,
Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday completed five years in office and celebrated the occasion at a grand function here attended by senior party leaders, including L.K. Advani and BJP president Nitin Gadkari.
Among the other party leaders present at the Jambure Ground were Sushma Swaraj, Rajnath Singh, Venkaiah Naidu, Arun Jaitley and Ananth Kumar.
However, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi was not present at the event. According to sources in the party, Modi was not invited.
All the party leaders lavished praise on Chouhan for completing his five-year term in office.
In the 55-year history of Madhya Pradesh and the 12 years of the BJP or the Janata Party’s rule, Chouhan is the first chief minister among the seven from the two parties to have completed his full five-year in office.
On Nov 29, 2005, Shivraj Singh Chouhan was made chief minister, replacing Babulal Gaur.
Monday, while the spotlight remained on Chouhan, the day was also celebrated as Karyakarta Gaurav Divas (Workers’ Pride Day).
Alok Bhargava, a Guna-based BJP leader, has written to party president Gadkari, general secretary Ram Lal and state BJP chief Prabhat Jha, protesting what he described as the chief minister’s “ostentatious” conduct.
Gaur wrote: “While I feel good about Chief Minister Chouhan completing five years in office, a lot of hard work has gone into throwing the Congress out of power. Every party worker needs to be acknowledged on that count. It should include Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur’s contribution and the party should celebrate seven years of its rule rather than five years of a chief minister.”
BJP insiders who did not wish to be named said Chouhan could have deferred the celebrations by a few days. “Any date in the first week of December would have meant celebrating the party’s seven years in office too.”
The opposition Congress party is celebrating the occasion as “Sharm Diwas (Shame Day)” and at least 20 activists of the party, including state unit president Suresh Pachouri, courted arrests while protesting the BJP rule.