More than eight years ago when a skinny BJP leader was nominated in November 2005 to replace Babulal Gaur as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, political pundits had predicted doom for him. Shivraj Singh Chouhan took oath as Chief Minister for the third time on Saturday, only to prove wrong all those pundits. Chouhan stands tall in Madhya Pradesh and promises to grow taller from here.
The OBC leader, who represented Vidisha in the lok Sabha for several terms after 1991, is still skinny but he has put on a lot of political weight in the BJP. His charisma as a leader of masses, who does not believe in protocol, has propelled him to the league of top party leaders. Chouhan’s second victory as Chief Minister — 2013 victory was larger than what he achieved in 2007 — has led to speculations that he would be inducted in BJP’s parliamentary board, the highest decision making body of the BJP.
A seat in the Parliamentary board would bring him at par with Narendra Modi, the only Chief Minister in the top BJP body now. Chouhan had perhaps smelled a victory even before the results were announced. Bureaucrats close to him claim after the Chief Minister was so confident about his return that immediately after the polling got over, he got busy chalking out programme for his new term.
“We were not confident about such a landslide victory. We all had tensed moments before the counting, but the CM would keep smiling. As if, he knew what was there in the womb of the future,” an aide said. Chouhan and Modi are similar in several ways. They are equally different from each other on many counts. Both have been known as no nonsense Chief Minister, whose Governments have fared impressively on different parameters of governance. Yet, Chouhan is not as aggressive a leader as Modi. If the two have successfully managed to maintain a healthy relation between the government and the organization in their state, Chouhan does not overshadow the organisation.
Chouhan lives by many names. If his schemes for girl child and women brought him the tag of Mama, he got the name of Paon Paon wale Bhaiya for his nonstop effort to reach out to people in far flung area. Chouhan’s model of Governance is a perfect combination of populist approach and prudent governance.
The infrastructure and energy sector has seen a turnaround of sorts under Chouhan. At the same time his government launched schemes that directly benefits poor, women and even the minorities. Chouhan would not mind wearing a skull cap in a function of Muslim community, but he would take extra care to see to it that his efforts to win support among minorities are not seen as appeasement politics that the BJP has been opposed to.
Chouhan had several troubled phases when muck was thrown at him, guns were trained at his wife’s for her alleged involvement in Government matters, some of his ministerial colleagues got embroiled in controversies and over ambitious BJP leaders tried to play boss. But, he emerged out stronger from every crisis.
Chouhan’s clinched an emphatic victory — winning 165 seats out of total 230 seats — through a well drafted strategy and backroom works by his aides, which resulted into denial of tickets to over 40 sitting legislators who faced a strong personal anti-incumbency. Chouhan prefers to keep a low profile. He would dismiss every question about a ‘central’ assignment. But, pundits who predicted doom for him in 2005 do not rule out his emergence as a ‘dark horse’ of future.