Despite losing a closely-fought battle with Congress in Madhya Pradesh, outgoing CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan will embark on an Abhar yatra to express gratitude to people of MP for giving him 15 years to serve them. The yatra will begin next week and will cover all the 52 districts of MP.
According to reports, Shivraj Singh will base his yatra on the fact that despite getting fewer seats than Congress, BJP got slightly more vote share in elections even though it was facing 15 years of anti-incumbency in the state. BJP managed to get 41.02% votes against Congress’ 40.89%, but former got only 109 seats against 104 of latter.
“We have 41.02% votes against Congress’s 40.89% though we fell short of the magic number. The party is thankful to voters and Shivraj Singh will take out ‘Aabhar Yatra’ in all 52 districts to express his feelings.” BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said. He also added that a detailed programme is yet to be discussed.
This yatra is also aimed at boosting the morale of workers and preparing them for 2019 general elections where BJP is targetting to retain its 26 Lok Sabha seats from MP. It will be only three months before the Election Commission implements the model code of conduct in the state.
On Thursday Kamal Nath was appointed as the face of CM of MP by Congress president Rahul Gandhi, following high tensions between Jyotiraditya Scindia and Kamal Nath cadre. This was followed by Akali Dal leader and Delhi MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa accusing Congress President Rahul Gandhi of rubbing salt to the injuries of the Sikh community by appointing Kamal Nath as CM of MP.
On Wednesday, when asked whether Shivraj’s future plans to move to Delhi, Chouhan said “Meri aatma yahan basti hai (my soul belongs in Madhya Pradesh). I would live and die in Madhya Pradesh but won’t go anywhere.”
It is reported that Shivraj may soon be joining Union Cabinet and contest elections from Vidisha in 2019 general elections.
Shivraj Singh has a reputation for widely doing yatras on foot. He is also known as ”Panv-Panv wale bhaiya (one who always remains on foot)” amongst his followers.
On the other hand, after much speculation, Congress has also announced Ashok Gehlot as the Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Sachin Pilot as the Deputy Chief Minister.
