Mohan Yadav to be new Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Jagdish Devda & Rajendra Shukla named deputy CM

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday named Ujjain South MLA Mohan Yadav as the new chief minister-elect.

The 58-year-old leader was named as the leader of BJP legislative party at the meeting held at the BJP headquarters in Bhopal. Narendra Singh Tomar, the union minister who resigned after being elected to the assembly, has been named as the new assembly speaker.

Outgoing finance minister and two time MLA Jagdish Devda from Mandsaur and outgoing public relation minister MLA Rajendra Shukla from Rewa have been elected as deputy chief ministers.

During the meeting, BJP observers including Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, BJP OBC Morcha president K Laxman and national secretary Asha Lakra discussed the names with the victorious MLA-elects.

Mohan Yadav, backed by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, served as the higher education minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.

Yadav's anointment as the chief minister elect comes 10 days after the saffron party swept the Madhya Pradesh assembly election by winning 163 of 230 seats, successfully beating anti-incumbency. The BJP had contested the election for the first time in 20 years without a chief ministerial face. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held at least 14 rallies in the state.

Once sworn-in, Yadav will be the fifth chief minister from the BJP after Sunderlal Patwa, Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Of these, Chouhan served as CM for more than 16 years.