Madhya Pradesh CM: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday declared Mohan Yadav, a three-term MLA from Ujjain Dakshin and the Higher Education minister of the state, as the leader of the legislature party in Madhya Pradesh, paving the way for his appointment as the Chief Minister of the state. The decision ends over a week of uncertainty over the party’s chief ministerial pick following the BJP’s stellar victory in the recently-concluded Assembly elections in the state. The decision also marks an end to four-time Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s era.

The party has also named Jagdish Devda and Rajesh Shukla as the two deputy chief ministers in the state. Senior party leader and former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been designated as the Speaker of the MP legislative Assembly.

The decision aligns with the party’s push to get its caste arithmetic right for the Lok Sabha elections next year. An OBC face, Yadav (58) is a three-time MLA from Ujjain Dakshin and was first elected from the seat in 2013. He was re-elected in 2018 from the same seat and was appointed as the Education minister in the Chouhan cabinet in 2020.

Short Profile of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr. Mohan Yadav Ji:-• Joined ABVP in 1980s.• Grassroot BJP Karyakarta in Madhya Pradesh BJP since 1984.• Instrumental in BJP victories in Madhya Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.• 3 Terms MLA (2013, 2018, 2023) from Ujjain South… pic.twitter.com/dbDPZl8zjy

— BJP OBC MORCHA (@BJP4OBCMorcha) December 11, 2023

The legislature party of the BJP met at 4 PM in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh where Yadav was elected as the leader. The decision came in the presence of the party’s central observers Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, OBC Morcha head K Laxman, and secretary Asha Lakra. Prominent names in contention for the CM’s post included four-time Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, former Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, Aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and party leader Kailash Vijayvargia.

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The BJP went into polls without a chief ministerial face, with the party’s campaign resting solely on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s face and his “guarantees”. Yet, the party’s victory — it bagged 163 of the 230 seats — has also been credited to CM Chouhan whose flagship schemes like the ‘Laddli Behna’ are believed to have had a major impact on the party’s poll performance.

The party’s focus, insiders say, continued to be on selecting an OBC face as has been the case since 2003. All CMs that the party has chosen have been from the Other Backward Classes community. THe previous BJP chief ministers include Uma Bharti, Babu Lal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan.