MP welcomes new CM! BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan takes oath as state CM for the fourth time

Bhopal, March 24: BJP's Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday took oath as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh in presence of Governor Lalji Tandon at a ceremony at the Raj Bhawan in Bhopal. This is the fourth time Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been administered the oath of office as CM.

 

 

The ceremony was held amid a coronavirus-induced lockdown in the state capital resulting in no invitations for party leaders or the press. Earlier, Chouhan was elected the leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting of MLAs held at the state BJP headquarters on Monday evening. The meeting was sparsely attended as numerous MLAs couldn’t make it to the venue owing to the lockdown.

 

Soon after being administered the oath, Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that normally he would have sought the blessings of his seniors by going to them but these are exceptional circumstances under which he has taken oath as the state has been hit by the coronavirus too, and as a result would seek their blessings by folding his hands from the dais.

Chouhan’s name was proposed by outgoing leader of opposition Gopal Bhargava and supported by former minister Narottam Mishra, Meena Singh, a tribal MLA and Gopilal Jatav, a dalit MLA. The entire proceedings were relayed via video conferencing to the BJP headquarters in Delhi from where vice-president and state-in-charge Vinay Sahasrabuddhe and general secretary Arun Singh who had been appointed as observer for the process, joined in.

 

Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the 32nd Chief Minister of the state. He represents Budhni constituency in Sehore district. Outgoing CM Kamal Nath, who resigned on March 20 after 22 Congress MLAs resigned and joined the BJP, pushing his government into a minority, was also present at the ceremony.