The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) announced Mohan Yadav as the new state chief of Madhya Pradesh after party observers, including Haryana chief Manohar Lal Khattar, OBC wing president K Laxman and national secretary Asha Lakra, discussed the names with the winning MLAs.
Meanwhile, Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda have been appointed as Deputy State Chiefs. Former Federal Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has been appointed as Speaker of the State Assembly.
Yadav's name came as a surprise as the top contenders for the state's top post were four-time chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Prahlad Patel, former Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, Kailash Vijayvargiya, party state unit chief V.D. Sharma and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
Yadav is a three-time MLA from South Ujjain constituency. He was first elected as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the constituency in 2013, and managed to retain his seat from South Ujjain in 2018 as well.
Later in 2020, he was inducted as a cabinet minister in Madhya Pradesh state government which was then headed by Shivraj Singh Chouhan.
After being named as Chouhan's successor, Yadav thanked the people of the state and the party leadership for giving him the responsibility.
"I am a small worker of the party. I thank all of you, the state leadership and the central leadership. With your love and support, I will try to fulfil my responsibilities," Madhya Pradesh State Chief-designate Yadav said.
After the announcement, Chouhan and other BJP politicians took to social media to congratulate Yadav.
This is the first time since 2005 that the party has used central observers to select the state's chief ministerial candidate.
The party had appointed central observers in 2005 when former state chief Babu Lal Gaur vacated the post. Earlier, the central observers were appointed in 2004 when Uma Bharti vacated the post.
After 2005, no central observers were appointed in the state as the party managed to win the state assembly elections in 2008 and 2013 and Chouhan continued to be the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.