Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday asked a rally in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh whether he should become chief minister again and received a resounding “yes”.

The move is being seen as an effort by the four-time chief minister to mount pressure on his party, which has so far looked in no mood to name him as the candidate for the hot seat this time.

Shivraj also asked the crowd whether Narendra Modi should continue as Prime Minister — putting up an obvious show of defiance.

“I want to ask you whether I am running a good government or a bad government. So, should this government move ahead or not? Should Mama (as Shivraj is popularly known) become chief minister or not?” news agency PTI quoted the chief minister as saying at a rally.

Shivraj, as quoted by PTI, went on: “Should Narendra Modiji continue to be the country’s Prime Minister? Should the BJP retain power in the state and also at the Centre?”

The crowd again responded with a “yes”.

“So, brothers and sisters, let’s make a resolution that we will support those who cooperate with us,” he said.

Shivraj, who has helmed the state government for more than 16 years with just one short interruption, was once seen as a possible competitor to Modi in the BJP.

He and former Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje are virtually the only leaders left standing from among the BJP’s pre-Modi-era old guard. Both are up against a concerted effort from the party leadership to replace them with younger, loyal politicians.

Neither Shivraj not Vasundhara, however, has shown any sign of quitting the race. Both have been running campaigns to prove their popularity.

Shivraj said at a recent rally that women voters would “miss a brother” like him when he is not around.

The BJP leadership has already indicated its intent to be rid of Shivraj by fielding Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar, Prahlad Patel, Faggan Singh Kulaste and several Lok Sabha MPs to contest the Madhya Pradesh Assembly polls.

In both Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan --- states where polls are due later this year -- the BJP has decided to flag “collective leadership” and not project any chief
ministerial face.

At a recent event in Bhopal, Union home minister Amit Shah called for a “BJP government in the state under the leadership of PM Modi”.

Later, asked whether Shivraj would become chief minister again if the BJP retained power, he said: “Leave that decision for us (the party) to take.”

Modi has in his Rajasthan rallies been saying that “the only face in this election is the lotus (the BJP’s election symbol)”.

Party leaders in Delhi are arguing that the Shivraj government is hamstrung by “voter fatigue” and “accumulated anti-incumbency”. But many in the BJP believe that the party’s real objective is to oust pre-Modi-era leaders who continue to dominate in the states.

The Congress’s chief ministerial face, Kamal Nath, described Shivraj’s latest comments as an effort to exert pressure on Modi.

“The Prime Minister has stopped mentioning Shivraj’s name at election rallies. Now, to put pressure, Chouhan has started asking the people whether Modiji should be the Prime Minister,” Nath said.

Party boost for Kamal Nath

Randeep Surjewala, the Congress’s Madhya Pradesh in-charge, on Saturday virtually endorsed state unit president Kamal Nath as the party’s chief ministerial face ahead of the Assembly elections.

On the party’s chief ministerial face for the Madhya Pradesh elections after a meeting of the Congress’s Central Election Committee at the AICC headquarters, Surjewala said: “Kamal Nath is president of Madhya Pradesh Congress and whoever is president of the Pradesh Congress, that person is naturally the face of the Congress.”

Though the Congress has not officially declared its chief ministerial face, Nath is seen as the frontrunner if the party manages to get a majority in the polls.

Former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior leader Digvijaya Singh also endorsed Nath as the chief ministerial face earlier.

Election to the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly is likely to be held in November-December.

In the 2018 polls, the Congress had won 114 seats while the BJP got 109. However, the Congress government led by Nath fell after many MLAs led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later became a Union minister, joined the BJP.

PTI