Bhopal: Shivraj Singh Chouhan has been at the centre stage of Madhya Pradesh politics ever since he came to power in late 2005.
From introducing yoga classes and Vande Mataram in schools to initiating a cow sanctuary to sync Hindutva brand of politics with the social spectrum, Chouhan held sway.
Naturally, he also became the darling of the Rashtriya Swamsevak Sangh (RSS).
Despite his ouster from power last year, Chouhan continued to aspire for a prime role in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) politics in the state.
Ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Chouhan sought to play an active role from candidate selection to campaigning.
It seems not all of his plans are on track. With elections underway and the poll campaign at its peak, Chouhan has failed to make a buzz with the voters.
Several reasons have been attributed for this.
Madhya Pradesh’s longest-serving chief minister got embroiled in a row for threatening a key official after his chopper was denied permission to land and he had to take the road.
“Our days will be back soon, what will you do then?" He thundered to the official.
Within hours, the BJP’s star campaigner faced multiple comments and a battering by bureaucrats.
No doubt Chouhan is one of the toughest politicians in state politics and deserves credit for retaining the saffron party in power for three consecutive terms.
The EC ordered a probe and gave a clean chit to the official, compounding Chouhan's woes.
That was a blow to Chouhan, who lodged a complaint with the EC to take action against the official.
This was Chouhan’s first public expression of dissent against an official after the BJP lost power late last year.
Erosion of credibility
Chouhan's clout was dented during the ticket distribution for the Lok Sabha candidates.
The selection of candidates indicates his sway over his party is diminishing.
The BJP national vice-president had to fall in line and accept RSS nominees including Bhopal candidate Pragya Singh Thakur, the choice of both RSS and former CM Uma Bharti.
Same was the case in Indore where Shankar Lalwani was the choice of outgoing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
Uma also had her say in the choice of candidates in Balaghat (Dhal Singh Bisen), while the RSS nominees got tickets in Betul (Rammu Tekam) Khajuraho (B D Sharma), Khargone (Gajendra Singh), Dhar (Chhattar Singh Darbar), Ratlam (G S Damor), Dewas (Mahendra Solanki), Rajgarh (Rodmal Nagar) and Chhindwara (Nattan Shah).
However, Chouhan's aides Anil Firozia got the Ujjain seat, while Himadri Singh and Riti Pathak got the ticket from Shahdol and Sidhi seats, respectively.
The RSS had directed the BJP to drop 40 per cent of the initial nominees based on its own feedback.
Chouhan's plan to contest from the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat, where external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj is the sitting MP, also failed to pass muster.
He had even eyed a ticket for his wife Sadhna from the same seat.
“Senior leaders like Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who is already an MLA, should not contest or decide on the name of the candidates,” former Rajya Sabha member and BJP leader Raghunandan Sharma had said, indicating the level of dissent against the former CM.
The reason why Chouhan is being cut to size is because he ignored many key suggestions of RSS during assembly polls.
The RSS wanted the BJP to drop nearly 100 out of 165 sitting BJP MLAs, but the BJP denied seats to only 56 sitting MLAs.
Now, we know how the systematic downsizing of Chouhan is unfurling ever since the BJP lost the assembly polls.
Madhya Pradesh will be holding its second phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Monday (May 6).
The third and fourth rounds of the election in the central Indian state will be on May 12 and May 19 which mark the sixth and final phases, respectively, of the Indian general elections.
