After stepping down as Chief Minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan in the month of December had visited Vidisha, where he was surrounded by women supporters, who broke down and hugged him as emotions ran high. Some may called it high voltage drama or some cited it as an Shivraj’s mass leadership that cannot be ignored. He was also seen getting emotional and in tears as women encircled him and raised slogans in his praise while he was on his way to a famous Hanuman temple in Vidisha. Women in group were calling him ‘Bhaiyya’ and ‘Mama’ and they said they want him back (as the CM). The former CM could not hold back his tears and assured them that he was not leaving Madhya Pradesh. Since the announcement of Mohan Yadav as the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, speculation about Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s political future were looming around.

 

As Chouhan has served as the Chief Minister of MP for 15 years. There were disussions that he may be assigned to give serve the party from South. On March 2, BJP announced names of 24 candidates from MP for Lok Sabha elections. Most talked among those is former Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, who has been nominated from Vidisha seat. Name of Chouhan and other leaders figured in the first list of 195 candidates declared by the party in Delhi. Chouhan has been fielded from Vidisha, a seat he won five times in the past from 1991 to 2004. Vidisha has been a strong bastion for BJP since 1989. Chouhan, who is a sitting MLA from Budhni, represented Vidisha seat five times. He said that he is ‘grateful’ to the Central leadership for giving him the privilege to serve the public. “He said that BJP will win all 29 Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh in upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in the hearts of people of Madhya Pradesh. We all will contest jointly,” Chouhan told reporters at his residence on Saturday night and invoked ‘Fir Ek Baar Modi Sarkar, Abki Baar 400 Paar’ slogan. He said BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, State Party President V D Sharma and others, have held discussions about ensuring poll victory. “As a party worker, I will work with full strength,” he added.

 

Chouhan represented the high-profile Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for five terms before becoming the Chief Minister in 2005. The constituency was previously represented by BJP stalwarts like late Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1991), Sushma Swaraj (2009 and 2014) and newspaper publisher Ramnath Goenka (1971). Chouhan had last won the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat in 2004 but resigned after becoming the Chief Minister. He is the sitting MLA from Budhni seat, which also falls under Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency. BJP’s Ramakant Bhargava is sitting Member of Parliament from this seat. In the State Assembly polls held in November 2023, Chouhan won Budhni seat with a record margin of 1.05 lakh votes against Congress candidate Vikram Mastal. In 2019 general elections, BJP won 28 of the 29 seats in MP, while the Congress only managed to win Chhindwara seat.