Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah on Sunday sidestepped the question of Shivraj Singh Chouhan continuing as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister in the event of the party winning in the Assembly polls due later this year.
Responding to back-to-back queries on the clarity of future leadership in the State, Mr. Shah said that Mr. Chouhan was the CM and the party will collectively decide on the issue. He was speaking to journalists in the capital Bhopal after releasing the Madhya Pradesh government’s ‘report card’ between 2003 and 2023, a period during which, he asserted, the State had successfully rid itself of the BIMARU (laggard) category tag.
“Shivraj Ji remains the chief Minister now and the party is in election [mode]. Party will do its job. My request to you all [journalists] is take whatever has happened under the leadership of [Prime Minister Narendra] Modi Ji and Shivraj Ji to the people so that the development agenda is set for the election,” he said, speaking of the forthcoming elections and Mr. Chouhan, who has been at the helm for more than a decade and a half.
