No internal wrangling, party will decide MP CM candidate: Shivraj Chouhan

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has denied any 'internal wrangling' within the party and claimed that the BJP is working unitedly for the upcoming Assembly elections. Speaking in a TV programme, he also said in that the party will decide the chief ministerial candidate for the polls slated to be held later this year.

Further, referring to Jyotiraditya Scindia joining the BJP in 2020, he said that those who came with Scindia Ji have "assimilated into our party like sugar in milk". "I feel happy to say that the BJP is working unitedly in Madhya Pradesh, he reiterated.

In reply to a question about whether or not the BJP was divided in Madhya Pradesh, the chief minister did acknowledge there were differences in the party. However, he said,“Of course, leaders work differently according to their preferences. Even two brothers in a family have different styles of work."

Party will decide the CM

Responding to questions in India TV's 'Aap Ki Adalat' programme, Chouhan said his party will decide the chief ministerial candidate for the assembly polls slated to be held later this year. “The party will make the chief minister. The people will make the CM,” he was quoted as having said in a press release by the news channel in Delhi.

When Chouhan became CM the first time

During the interaction, Chouhan narrated how he was made the CM in 2005 when he was a member of Parliament and stayed in Delhi. Reminiscing about the time, he was selected as CM in 2005, he said, “I became the chief minister because the party wanted and I had the blessings of the people. In 2005, when I first became CM, I did not know that I had been selected. The BJP parliamentary board was meeting and I was staying at Pandit Pant Marg in Delhi as an MP. Suddenly, my wife woke me up and told me that TV channels were breaking the news about me being selected as chief minister. I told her not to daydream. Soon after, the doorbell rang and Bhupendra Singh Hooda was there to congratulate me. He was my neighbour."

Soon after, there was a call from the BJP's organising secretary “asking me to come to the office immediately where I was told that I have been given the responsibility of chief minister”, Chouhan said.

Three groupings in BJP's MP

When asked about the speculation that BJP's Madhya Pradesh unit has three groupings – “naaraz” (unhappy), “maharaj” (Gwalior's royal family scion Scindia) and “Shivraj” – the chief minister said, “The problem with Congress is that they lose their sleep when our party works unitedly.”

Chouhan further said, “We appear in their nightmares. Like a red rag to a bull, Kamal Nath and Digvijaya Singh wake up from their nightmares shouting ‘Shivraj, Shivraj’.”

Chouhan also claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is an unparalleled leader and nobody can stop India from becoming “vishwaguru”.

(With agency inputs)