I have never been a contender for CM's post; not earlier, not now: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Bhopal: After leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to a landslide victory in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Tuesday said he had not been a contender for the CM's post in the past, nor was he one now.

The BJP had not projected any chief ministerial face before the November 17 elections. It scored a thumping victory by winning 163 of the 230 assembly seats, leaving the main opposition Congress far behind with 66 seats. “I had not been a contender for the chief minister earlier, nor am I one today. As a party worker, I have always carried out whatever work the BJP assigned me to the best of my ability, with dedication and honesty,” Chouhan said in a video statement posted on his official X account.

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— Shivraj Singh Chouhan (@ChouhanShivraj) December 5, 2023

The 64-year-old leader, who has been Madhya Pradesh's chief minister four times, also said he was fortunate to be a BJP worker.

“I am fortunate that (Prime Minister) Narendra Modi is our leader and I got an opportunity to work with him. A glorious, prosperous and powerful India is being built under Modi ji. Modi ji is our leader and we have always felt proud and happy to work with him,” Chouhan said.

Thanking voters, he said the people of the state extended an unprecedented support to the BJP.

Replying to a reporter's question after a programme in Bhopal, Chouhan said he was not going to Delhi to meet the party's top leaders.

“Tomorrow, I am going to Chhindwara, where we failed to win any of the seven seats (in the district). I have resolved that the BJP should win all 29 Lok Sabha constituencies in Madhya Pradesh and Narendra Modi should become the country's PM (again),” he added.

The BJP lost in all seven assembly constituencies in Chhindwara district, the home turf of state Congress chief and former chief minister Kamal Nath.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 28 seats in the state, but Kamal Nath's son and Congress candidate Nakul Nath won from Chhindwara.