Shivraj Singh Chouhan was on Monday administered oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in a small ceremony at the Governor House. In the wake of coronavirus threat, only a few VVIPs were present at the swearing-in, while the media was not allowed entry at the event.
With the oath-taking ceremony, Chouhan created history in Madhya Pradesh for having become Chief Minister for the fourth term. First, he became CM on November 29, 2005, second time on December 12, 2008 and for third term on December 14, 2013. Earlier, on Monday evening, Chouhan was elected as BJP Legislative Party’s leader at a meeting held at the State BJP headquarters. Having elected as Chief Minister designate, Chouhan called on his partymen saying it is not a time for any celebration but to fight off corona scare. He said he will start working at Mantralaya from Monday night.
As the BJP legislative party meet held in Bhopal on Monday evening, senior leader Gopal Bhargav proposed Chouhan’s name and several MLAs, including former Minister Narottam Mishra, seconded his name. Soon after central observers — Vinay Sahastrabuddhe and Arun Singh, attending the meeting through video conferencing announced that Chouhan has been named the leader of BJP Legislative Party.
Chouhan in his address straightaway launched a stinging assault on outgoing Congress Government claiming that the Congress government completely destroyed the State in 15 months of rule.
The state government also exhibited ways how they can destroy the state further while shunning power, claimed Chouhan adding it was not a time for discussing these things. With collective efforts, we would put the state back on track on development and public welfare but I wish to urge partymen that it wasn’t a time for celebration and Corona scare was the topmost priority. “I would start sitting in my office in Mantralaya since Monday night,” said Chouhan. Lauding the will shown by PM Narendra Modi against Corona scare, Chouhan who will be sworn in as the Chief Minister for fourth time in MP, claimed the MLAs would shortly visit their constituencies to raise awareness on Novel Corona virus. It is an emotional moment for me as my party has yet again shown that a common worker like me could achieve heights despite having no political or family background, Chouhan said. Meanwhile, Congress party leaders were heard voicing for appointment of Kamal Nath as the Leader of Opposition. After senior leader PC Sharma, Sajjan Singh Verma, the former PWD minister also tweeted that Nath should lead the party as LOp and state president into by-polls.
