Hours after the Central Cabinet approved a proposal of offering 10 per cent reservation quota to economically backward upper castes, BJP in Madhya Pradesh appointed a prominent Brahmin face and the senior MLA Gopal Bhargav as the Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
Eight-time MLA and a prominent Brahmin face in Madhya Pradesh politics, Bhargav was appointed as the Leader of Opposition following the BJP legislature party meeting in Bhopal on Monday.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh who was appointed central observer alongside State in charge Vinay Sahastrabuddhe to oversee the process, announced the decision after the meeting of BJP legislature party in Bhopal.
Lauding the discipline in the party, Singh claimed it was former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan who had proposed Bhargav’s name and it was seconded by Narottam Mishra. It is pertinent to add that Mishra himself was prominent contender for the post and many believe he has been promised something by the party to backtrack in this contest. Ironically, when the announcement was made, Mishra had left the State BJP office from backdoor.
Sources however claimed that the central observers had one-one-one chats with over two dozen senior MLAs in order to forge consensus before the legislature party meeting got underway.
Ex-CM Chouhan also had visited New Delhi to meet top party leaders in this regard. However his nominee and the former minister Rajendra Shukls was nowhere in the contention when the legislature party meeting took place.
Bhargav has served as Panchayat and Rural Development minister in Shivraj government and was made a minister first time in 2003.