Two days before MLAs meet to select CM, Shivraj continues outreach; deleted X post sparks speculation
The Hindu
BJP's CM pick for MP to be decided Monday; Chouhan continues outreach to win 2024 LS polls. Incumbent CM visits North Bhopal, meets Muslim woman allegedly beaten for voting BJP. He credits win to women-centric welfare schemes, sending message of his popularity to party.
With the name of Madhya Pradesh’s next Chief Minister to be finalised on Monday when the BJP’s central observers will attend its legislature party meeting, the incumbent CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan continued his political outreach, looking ahead to the 2024 Lok Sabha election.
On Saturday, Mr. Chouhan visited the North Bhopal Assembly constituency, a seat that the BJP last won in 1993. “The Congress lost due to its arrogance and dishonesty. They came for 15 months and made false promises without fulfilling them. As they did not provide and relief or facility, the public this time decided that it will put its trust in Modi and Mama,” he said at a rally.
“The trust of the public is with the Bharatiya Janata Party and the respected Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji. With the blessings of the public, ‘Mission-29’ will be successful and we will make Modi ji the Prime Minister again by winning all the 29 Lok Sabha seats of Madhya Pradesh,” Mr. Chouhan wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The incumbent CM also posted his own picture on X, with the caption reading “Sable ko Ram Ram (Ram Ram to all). The post was, however, later deleted, fuelling speculation amid the suspense over the CM name.
The BJP on Friday appointed Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, the party’s OBC Morcha chief K. Lakshman, and Ranchi Mayor Asha Lakra as its central observers. The three leaders will attend the meeting of the BJP’s newly elected MLAs where the decision on the next CM will be taken. The meeting will take place at 4 p.m. on Monday.
Apart from Mr. Chouhan, who has held the top post in the State since 2005, barring a 15-month period between 2018 and 2020, many other BJP leaders are considered contenders for the top post. They include Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, former Union Ministers Prahlad Singh Patel and Narendra Singh Tomar who recently resigned as MPs following their wins in the Assembly polls, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, and State unit chief V.D. Sharma.
Barring Mr. Sharma and Mr. Scindia, all other leaders had contested the Assembly polls as part of the BJP’s collective leadership strategy. The BJP won 163 seats with the Congress only managing 66 seats.
The Opposition Congress demanded that the government open the Gandhi Vatika Museum, depicting Mahatma Gandhi’s legacy and freedom struggle, built at a cost of ₹85 crore in Jaipur’s Central Park last year, during the Congress-led regime in Rajasthan. The museum has not been opened to the public, reportedly because of the administration’s engagements with the State Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
Almaya Munnettam (Lay People to the Fore), group in the Ernakulam-Angamaly Archdiocese of the Syro-Malabar Church opposed to the synod-recommended Mass, rejected a circular issued by Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil and apostolic administrator Bosco Puthur on June 9 to implement the unified Mass in the archdiocese from July 3.
Pakistan coach Gary Kirsten stated that “not so great decision making” contributed to his side’s defeat to India in the Group-A T20 World Cup clash here on Sunday. The batting unit came apart in the chase, after being well placed at 72 for two. With 48 runs needed from eight overs, Pakistan found a way to panic and lose. “Maybe not so great decision making,” Kirsten said at the post-match press conference, when asked to explain the loss.