The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday named Mohan Yadav, a three-time MLA from Ujjain, as the chief of its legislature party in Madhya Pradesh, paving the way for him to become the state’s next chief minister.

Yadav was the higher education minister in the preceding Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government.

“It is only the BJP which can give such a big responsibility to a small worker,” the chief minister-designate said. “I thank the state leadership and the central leadership. I will take forward the development works of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.”

The BJP emerged victorious in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, winning 163 of 230 seats, according to the results declared on December 3. The party had contested the polls without a chief ministerial face, although speculations were rife that Chouhan was eyeing a fifth term.

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However, it was Chouhan who nominated Yadav’s name to take over the command from him, reported NDTV. “Other senior leaders Prahlad Patel, Narendra Singh Tomar and Kailash Vijayvargiya supported the proposal,” said VD Sharma, the BJP’s state unit president.

“Hearty congratulations to hardworking colleague Shri Mohan Yadav on being nominated as the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh in the BJP Legislative party meeting,” Chouhan took to social media to say after the party’s announcement.

Yadav is set to have two deputies – outgoing Finance Minister and two-time MLA Jagdish Devda from Mandsaur and outgoing Public Relations Minister and MLA from Rewa Rajendra Shukla .

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Narendra Singh Tomar, the former minister for agriculture and farmers’ welfare, has been named the new Speaker in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.

After Yadav’s appointment, Chouhan met Governor Mangubhai C Patel at Raj Bhavan in Bhopal and tendered his resignation.

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