Springing a surprise, the BJP on Monday picked Mohan Yadav, a leader of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and a three-time MLA, as the next chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, state party president VD Sharma said, reports PTI.

The BJP legislature party elected Yadav (58), a minister in the outgoing government, as its leader, paving the way for him to take over as the next CM of Madhya Pradesh.

Outgoing Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan proposed the name of Yadav, the BJP MLA from Ujjain South, for the top post at a meeting of the newly-elected legislators held in the evening in Bhopal in the presence of party's central observers, Sharma said.

Yadav, who was not seen as among contenders for the CM post, is considered to be close to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and is a three-time MLA and a prominent leader of OBCs, who account for more than 48 per cent of the state's population.

He was first elected as an MLA in 2013 from Ujjain South and retained the assembly seat in 2018 and again in 2023.

The BJP legislator was serving as the higher education minister in the outgoing CM Chouhan's cabinet.

With this, the BJP has reposed its faith in OBC leaders for the fourth time since 2003 when Uma Bharti was made the chief minister.

After Bharti, Madhya Pradesh saw two more OBC CMs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- Babulal Gaur and Chouhan.

The BJP retained power in MP in the November 17 assembly polls, winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly, leaving the Congress a distant second with 66.

In run-up to the polls, the BJP did not project a CM face and relied heavily on the mass appeal of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who campaigned extensively in the state.

Yadav will succeed Chouhan (64), a four-time CM who took office in 2005, 2008, 2013 and 2020 and was the BJP's longest serving chief minister.