BJP’s victory in Budhni will be a return gift for me: Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Bhopal: Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Monday that BJP candidate Ramakant Bhargava's victory in Budhni by-election will be a return gift for him.

On the last day of the campaign, Chouhan made an emotional appeal to the voters of his home town, saying that Budhni has been his 'karma-bhumi'. He said he has worked for the development of his home town not as an MLA or Chief Minister, but as the son of Budhni.

"I would urge every voter in Budhni to elect Ramakant Bhargava MLA from Budhni with a big margin. I worked for this constituency considering myself as a family member and this relationship will remain until my last breath. His (Bhargava) victory will be a return gift for me," he said while addressing a public rally in Budhni on Monday.

On the last day of the campaign for bypolls, Chouhan along with Bhargava spent the entire day in his home town and addressed nearly half-a-dozen public rallies.

He was seen interacting with people from different age groups, and women and urged them to support Bhargava in the bypolls slated for November 13.

Meanwhile, he also hit a Congress, saying the grand old party is suffering from an internal rift. He alleged that Congress making all efforts to mislead people with false allegations, but they have nothing to do with the people of Budhni.

"During the long regime of Congress, Budhni was deprived of even basic needs of life. Development began after the BJP government returned to power in the state in 2003. Voting for Congress would waste your valuable votes," he added.

Bypolls in Budhni, the bastion of BJP stalwart Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was necessitated after he resigned from the state Assembly after being elected as Lok Sabha MP.

Chouhan was elected MLA for the first time from Budhni in 1990, however, he resigned from the state Assembly after winning a Lok Sabha by-election from Vidisha in 1991.

His second inning from his home turf began after he replaced Babulal Gaur as Chief Minister in 2005. Chouhan contested bypolls from Budhni in 2006 and since then he won as many as four consecutive Assembly elections until 2023.

In the 2023 Assembly elections, Chouhan won from Budhni by a margin of more than 1.05 lakh votes against Congress' Vikram 'Mastal' Sharma, a TV actor.

In Chouhan's absence, the BJP has fielded Ramakant Bhargava against Congress' two-time former MLA Rajkumar Patel, who was also minister in former Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh's government.