After long-awaited suspense, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday picked three-time Ujjain South MLA Mohan Yadav as the new Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. Following BJP’s massive victory in the recently concluded Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the saffron party selected a former higher education minister of the state to be the next chief minister. 

Mohan Yadav became an MLA for the first time from the Ujjain Dakshin constituency in the Ujjain district. He won the assembly elections from the same constituency in 2018 and 2023. Yadav also served as a cabinet minister in Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s government from 2020. 

In the recently concluded elections, Mohan Yadav defeated Congress candidate Chetan Premnarayan Yadav by as many as 12,941 votes. While Yadav received 95,699 votes, Chetan Premnarayan Yadav got 82,758 votes. He is also considered as one of the close leaders of the RSS. 

Mohan Yadav is also considered as one of the close leaders of the RSS. (ANI Image)

The Madhya Pradesh CM-designate is reportedly married to Seema Yadav. They have two sons and daughter. He has several educational degrees including  BSC, LLB, MA, MBA and PhD. Mohan Yadav’s wife expressed happiness after his name was announced and said, "Our joy knows no bounds. Yes, his name was doing the rounds but we didn't know it exactly. God has given him the fruits of his hard work."

After being named as the new Madhya Pradesh CM, BJP leaders including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, congratulated Mohan Yadav. Yadav also thanked everyone for their support and said that he would fulfil his responsibilities.

"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," he said.

Meanwhile, finance minister and two-time MLA Jagdish Devda from Mandsaur and outgoing public relations minister MLA Rajendra Shukla from Rewa have been named as deputy chief ministers of the state.

Following BJP's victory in the assembly elections on December 3, several candidates were speculated to be in the fray for the top post including Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pralhad Singh Patel, Narendra Singh Tomar, and Kailash Vijayvargiya.

In the recently concluded Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, the BJP won 163 out of the total 230 seats. While the Congress managed to secure only 66 seats.