In a surprising move, the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) has named former Union Agricultural Minister Narendra Singh Tomar as the new Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly. Tomar, who defeated the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Balveer Singh Dandotiya by 24,461 votes in Dimani in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls, is among the three Union ministers who were fielded in the Assembly polls by the BJP.
Tomar held different posts before becoming the state president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha in 1991.
Who is Narendra Singh Tomar?
In 1998 and 2003, Tomar was elected from the Gwalior Assembly seat and became a cabinet minister in the state government.
He was appointed the state BJP president in 2006 and was on the post again between 2012 and 2014. Tomar was elected to the Lok Sabha from Morena in 2008 and again from Gwalior in 2014 and was made a minister in the Narendra Modi government.
He won the general elections in 2019 from Morena and was once again made a minister at the Centre.
However, he faced the brunt of farmers in 2020 when the BJP-led government implemented the three contentious farm laws. The three farm laws-- The Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, The Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act and The Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act-- however, had to repeal a year after farmers from different states, especially from Punjab and Haryana protested against the Narendra Modi-led government.
Mohan Yadav replaces Shivraj Singh Chouhan
Earlier today, the BJP, in a surprising development, has named Mohan Yadav the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister-- thus sidelining the four-time CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Earlier, media reports speculated several names who were in the race for the top post. The tall leaders included Chouhan, Pralhad Patel and Tomar. However, the BJP in a surprise move, declared Mohan Yadav as the CM in the legislative party meeting.
It is worth mentioning that the BJP swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland.
The Congress ousted the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana to make it 3-1 for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the latest round of Assembly elections billed as a semi-final before next year's poll showdown.
Also Read: Mohan Yadav to replace Shivraj Singh Chouhan as Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister
