Shivraj Singh Chouhan sworn in as Madhya Pradesh CM for the fourth time

Shivraj Singh Chouhan to take oath as Madhya Pradesh CM today

Published : Mar 23, 2020, 5:05 PM IST

Updated : Mar 23, 2020, 9:42 PM IST

21:04 March 23

Shivraj Singh Chouhan returns as Madhya Pradesh chief minister

Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday returned as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh for the fourth time, over 15 months after his government was voted out of power.

The 61-year-old BJP leader was sworn in by Governor Lalji Tandon at Raj Bhawan here at 9 pm.

Chouhan was earlier in the day elected leader of the state BJP legislature party at its meeting here.

Due to the coronavirus situation, no BJP leader fron Delhi travelled to Bhopal for the legislature party meeting, though the party's central observers Arun Singh and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe participated through video conferencing.

Popularly known among his followers as 'Mamaji', Chouhan was sworn in chief minister of Madhya Pradesh thrice
earlier - in 2005, after Uma Bharti stepped down over a riots case, and for later two full terms in 2008 and 2013.

He stepped down after the Congress won a narrow majority in the December 2018 Assembly elections, after which
the Kamal Nath government came to power.

Stumped by the rebellion of party colleague Jyodiraditya Scindia, who joined the BJP and resignations of 22 Congress MLAs, Nath resigned as chief minister last week, paving way for Chouhan's return.

19:24 March 23

Shivraj Singh Chouhan elected BJP's legislative party leader

Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been elected as the leader of BJP legislative party in Madhya Pradesh, at the meeting held at the party office.

MP Observer Arun Singh, and state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe joined in the meeting from Delhi via video conference.

The legislature party members - wearing masks due to coronavirus threat and sitting two chairs away from each other - unanimously elected Chouhan as their leader.

The BJP's central observers Arun Singh and Vinay Sahasrabuddhe joined the meeting via video conferencing from Delhi.

Senior BJP MLA and ex-leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava proposed the name of Chouhan as legislature party leader, which was endorsed by Vijay Shah, Meena Singh, Paras Jain and other MLAs.

After this process, Arun Singh announced Chouhan's name as leader of BJP legislature party.

Chouhan, who thanked the MLAs, accused the outgoing Congress dispensation of "ruining" the state, and said he would change the way of running the government from now.

Calling fighting the coronavirus as his top priority,
Chouhan said, "We will defeat this disease."

"We will improve our governance....the shortcomings so far will be removed," he said.

He said he will go to Mantralaya (state secretariat) after taking oath and sit till late night to review measures taken to deal with the novel coronavirus outbreak.

17:34 March 23

BJP leader Arun Singh, who has been appointed as the Observer of Madhya Pradesh, and state in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe to hold a meeting via video conference later today on formation of state government.

16:51 March 23

Bhopal: BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be taking oath as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh at 9 pm today.

The ceremony will be held at the Raj Bhawan, said official sources.

The BJP legislature party meeting will be held around 7 pm to elect the legislature party leader.

Congress veteran Kamal Nath resigned as chief minister recently, paving the way for formation of the BJP-led government in the state.