Two days before MLAs meet to select CM, Shivraj continues outreach; deleted X post sparks speculation

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.