Who is Mohan Yadav, new Madhya Pradesh CM BJP preferred over veteran Shivraj Singh Chouhan?

Dr Mohan Yadav, who will take over as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, has rose in the ranks in the ABVP and the BJP. He was elected for the third time to the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly and served as the Minister of Higher Education in the erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan government in the state.

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sprang a surprise by choosing Dr Mohan Yadav as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

58-year-old Dr Mohan Yadav, who holds B.Sc, LLB, MA (Political Science), MBA and a Ph.D, was elected from the Ujjain Dakshin Assembly constituency by defeating Congress candidate Chetan Premnarayan Yadav by 12,941 votes. Dr Mohan Yadav, was born on March 25, 1965 and is married to Seema Yadav and has interests in tourism, culture, history, science and sports.

He is a tall leader of the OBC in the Malwa region. Dr Mohan Yadav is one of the highly educated leaders of the BJP. Apart from being a leader of OBC category, he was also considered the first choice of the RSS.

Dr Mohan Yadav is a strong supporter of the 'Hindutva' ideology. While being the Higher Education Minister in Madhya Pradesh, he had taken the initiative to include parts of 'Ramcharitmanas' in the college curriculum.

The Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister designate was the co-secretary of Madhav Science College Student Union in 1982 and its president in 1984. He then served as the city minister of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Ujjain in 1984. He also worked as the India co-ordinator and national executive member of the ABVP in 1988 and in other top positions of the students wing of the BJP.

The BJP leader is considered close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), which is the ideological parent of the BJP. From 2011-2013, Yadav served as the Chairman of the Bhopal-based Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation, a position equal to the Cabinet Ministerial rank.

He was first elected to the the fourteenth Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 2013 and then re-elected in 2018. He was honoured with the Mahama Gandhi Award by the Econ International Foundation. He was sworn in as a Minister in the then Shivraj Singh Chouhan led-government on July 2, 2020 and was allotted the Higher Education portfolio.

He is also the Vice President of the Madhya Pradesh Olympic Association and the President of Madhya Pradesh Wrestling Association.