Chouhan succeeded Gaur as the CM in November 2005. (Express file photo)
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said his predecessors Uma Bharti and Babulal Gaur have contributed in changing the fate of the state, where the BJP is in power since 2003.
Chouhan singled out Bharti, now a Union minister, for praise, saying she had played a major role in ousting the Congress Chief Minister Digvijay Singh from power in 2003.
He was addressing a rally as part of his ongoing `Janashirwad Yatra’ at Khargapur in Tikamgarh district Thursday. Chouhan said Singh was “hell bent on ruining” Madhya Pradesh which goes to the polls by the year-end.
Bharti took over as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in December 2003 after the BJP ended the 10-year-old rule of the Congress.
In 2004, Gaur replaced Bharti after she resigned in the backdrop of a Karnataka court issuing a non-bailable warrant against her in a case filed in the southern state.
Chouhan succeeded Gaur as the CM in November 2005.
Speaking in the home district of the firebrand BJP leader, Chouhan said, “Bharti had played a major role in ousting then Chief Minister Digvijay Singh, who was hell bent on ruining Madhya Pradesh, from power in 2003.”
“We three – Bharti, former chief minister Gaur and myself – have worked for changing the fate of the state,” said Chouhan. Reacting to Chouhan’s statement, Gaur told PTI, “Many many thanks to him.”
To a question, Gaur, who joined Chouhan’s Cabinet but quit in 2016, said, “I will definitely contest the upcoming assembly polls from the Govindpura seat in Bhopal.” Gaur has continuously won from Govindpura in elections held since 1980.
Urging people to ensure BJP’s victory from the Khargapur assembly seat, Chouhan said, “Last time you elected the Congress candidate, but despite that we left no stone unturned in ensuring development of the constituency.”
“In the new academic session, a degree college will be started in Khargapur. I have come here to seek your blessings for the party’s victory in the 2018 assembly polls,” he said.
A dam is also being constructed for the benefit of farmers in Khargapur and work of the Ken-Betwa river linking scheme is also in progress, Chouhan added.