Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday (October 15) dropped a massive hint regarding the BJP's possible chief ministerial face in the upcoming Assembly polls.
CM Chouhan visited the Dimani Assembly constituency in the Morena district from where Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been fielded to launch his office. Speculations have been doing the rounds for weeks that Chief Minister Chouhan may not be declared as the CM face for the BJP if the party manages to return to power in the state. Union Minister Piyush Goyal earlier said that the party's face is only lotus, which is the party's symbol. MP will vote on November 7 in a single phase and the counting of votes will be done on December 3.
CM Chouhan drops hint
Addressing the BJP workers and villagers on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that Tomar will write new chapters of development in the state.
“Big works are to be done in the state by the hands of Narendra Singh Tomar. He will write a new chapter of development. Destiny has decided to field a Union Minister in the assembly elections,” he said.
BJP fields some Union Ministers
Notably, the BJP released the list of its candidates for the polls in which Tomar featured in the second list of 39 candidates on September 26.
The party has fielded some other Union Ministers also, apparently in a bid to counter the anti-incumbency, including Minister of State (MoS) for Food Processing Industries Prahlad Singh Patel from the Narsingpur constituency and Minister of State for Rural Development and Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste from the Niwas constituency.
Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will be contesting from Budhni while Home Minister Narottam Mishra will fight from Datia.
Tomar is speculated to be the frontrunner in the CM race if the saffron party manages to hold on to power. He is also the head of the BJP campaign committee.
The BJP had last won Dimani in 2008.
(With inputs from Upendra Gautam)
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