Old warhorse Shivraj Singh Chouhan set to begin new innings as Union Minister

Bhopal: Veteran BJP leader and four-time former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan (65) is set to be inducted into the Union Cabinet as the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA council of ministers takes oath on Sunday evening, sources said.

Fielded against Congress candidate and ex-MP Pratap Bhanu Sharma from Vidisha, Chouhan won the Lok Sabha elections by a huge margin of 8,21,408 votes.

After his stint with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student's wing of the RSS, during his college days in Bhopal, Chouhan made his electoral debut in 1990 when he won the Assembly elections from his hometown Budhni in Sehor district.

One year later, Chouhan contested the bypoll after former Prime Minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee vacated the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, and defeated Congress' Pratap Bhanu Sharma by over 1 lakh votes.

He went on to retain the seat for four consecutive times, from 1996 to 2004.

Returning to state elections, Chouhan won the Assembly polls from Budhni in 2006, 2008, 2013, 2018 and 2023.

In 2003, when the BJP ousted the Digvijaya Singh-led Congress government in Madhya Pradesh, Uma Bharti was made the Chief Minister. She was replaced with BJP veteran Babulal Gaur in August 2004.

A year later, Chouhan replaced Gaur as the Chief Minister and remained in the chair till 2018 as the BJP won two Assembly elections - 2008 and 2013 - under his leadership, before losing to the Congress in 2018.

However, the Congress government didn't last long as a faction led by Jyotiraditya Scindia and his 22 loyalist MLAs shifted to the BJP in March 2020, paving the way for Chouhan's return as the CM for a fourth term.

The BJP swept the Assembly elections in 2023 despite high incumbency, but Chouhan was replaced with Mohan Yadav as the new Chief Minister on December 3.

During his over 17-year tenure as the Chief Minister, Chouhan introduced several public beneficiary schemes in Madhya Pradesh, including the 'Ladli Laxmi Yojana' in 2008 that earned him the title of 'Mama'.

In 2023, he extended his popular scheme with a new name -- 'Ladli Behna Yojana', a cash benefit arrangement for women -- which resulted in the BJP winning 163 out of 230 seats in the Assembly polls.