Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Early life and education

Shivraj Singh Chouhan was born in the family of Prem Singh Chouhan and his wife Sundar Bai Chouhan in the Jait village of Sehore district. Belonging to Kirar an thakur community, is a gold medalist in M. A. (Philosophy) from Barkatullah University, Bhopal. He is an agriculturist by profession. He was married to Sadhna Singh and they have two sons Kartrikey and Kunal.

Early political career

His early political career can be defined as up to the point of his first election to the Lok Sabha. He was elected President of the Model School Students Union in 1975. In 1976-77, he participated in underground movement against Emergency and was imprisoned in Bhopal Jail for some time.

In his early political career, he has also been: A convener of Akhil Bhartiya Keshariya Vahini in 1991-92

Political career

He was first elected to the State Assembly from Budhni Constituency in 1990. He was elected a Member of Parliament for the first time in his career in 10th Lok Sabha from Vidisha Constituency in the following year.

In 1996, he was re-elected to the 11th Lok Sabha (his second term). He was Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development and Member of Consultative Committee, Ministry of Human Resources Development and Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development from 1996 to 1997 and Member of Committee on Urban and Rural Development, General Secretary of B.J.P., Madhya Pradesh in 1997-98.

Again in 1998, he was re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (third term). He was Member, Committee on Urban and Rural Development and its Sub-Committee on Ministry of Rural Areas and Employment in 1998-99.

His fourth term in the Lok Sabha (13th Lok Sabha) was from 1999. He was member of Committee on Agriculture in 1999-2000, member of Committee on Public Undertakings from 1999 to 2001, and National President of Bhartiya Janta Yuva Morcha from 2000 to 2003. He was also the Chairman of House Committee (Lok Sabha) and National Secretary of Bhartiya Janta Party.

The BJP swept Madhya Pradesh in the Assembly elections of December 2003. At that time, Shivraj Singh contested polls unsuccessfully against the incumbent Chief Minister Digvijaya Singh from Raghogarh.

He was a member of Consultative Committee, ministry of Communications from 2000 to 2004. He was re-elected to 14th Lok Sabha (5th term) in 2004, with a margin of over 260,000 votes. He was member of Committee on Agriculture, member of Joint Committee on Offices of Profit, National General Secretary of BJP, Secretary of Parliamentary Board, and Secretary (Central Election Committee). He also headed Housing Committee of Lok Sabha, and member of Committee on Ethics.

Chief Minister

As the state BJP President, Chouhan was chosen to become the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh on 30 November 2005. He contested a by-election from Budhni assembly constituency the following year, winning his old seat by a margin of over 36,000 votes.

In 2008, Chouhan retained his Budhni seat by over 41,000 votes, and with it, led the BJP to a second consecutive victory in the state. On 12 December 2008, he was sworn in for his second term.

On 8 December 2013 he won Legislative Assembly elections in Budhni with 1,28,730 votes and from Vidisha with 73,783 votes. He was also elected as Chief Minister of MP for third term.

Criticisms

Chauhan's decision to not engage with the people of the Narmada Bachao Aandolan has been criticized by social activists. As per an interview given by the prominent activist Medha Patkar with The Wire in July 2017, for twelve years, Chauhan never responded to any of their requests to find a solution in ensuring the rehabilitation of the more than 4,000 families whose houses will be submerged as a result of the Sardar Sarovar dam.

Dumper Scam

In 2007, acting on the complaint of Congress leader and lawyer Ramesh Sahu, the Bhopal Court had ordered an inquiry against the Chief Minister and his Wife Sadhna Singh in "Dumper scam". Sadhna Singh had allegedly bought four dumpers for Rs 2 crore and later leased them to a cement factory. The allegation was that Sadhna named her husband as SR Singh at the time of purchase, and also gave a false residential address. Thereafter, the Lokayukta police began to probe the case after registering a case under Section 420 of IPC and Prevention of Corruption Act against the CM and his wife on 15 November 2007. The opposition demanded his immediate resignation but he refused to step down. However, in 2011, the Lokayukta report submitted before the court in February, had observed that the investigators could not find any basis on which the Chief Minister and his wife could be charged, hence giving them a clean-chit.

During a raid on two influential Bhopal-based businessmen Dilip Suryavanshi and Sudhir Sharma, the income tax department had recovered diaries which had entries claiming that the two ministers had been paid bribes. Singh claimed that complaints against the two ministers are pending before the state Lokayukta but the Chief Minister has not accorded sanction against the two yet.

Vyapam Scam

On 30 November 2013 he was again criticized for irregularities in Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam also known as Vyapam scam. The Special Task Force( STF) of MP police, made a shocking revelation that Vyapam officials committed fraud in selection tests for government jobs in Madhya Pradesh. Vyapam admitted in the High Court that 1020 forms were missing and 346 imposters had appeared in the exam. Vyapam officials admitted in the court that 1120 candidates appeared in the exam but their forms were missing because Vyapam official and accused Nitin Mahindra had tampered with the Computers in which the record was stored. Later, in the wake of the Madhya Pradesh Professional Examination Board (MPPEB) scam worth crores of rupees, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to clear his and his wife's name and sent a series of tweets within a span of three hours.

On 5 July 2014, Digvijay Singh shot off a letter to Shivraj Singh Chouhan along with 180 pages of photocopied evidence that proved CM's brother-in-law's involvement in a corruption case. The case dates back to May 2008 when public works department (PWD) manipulated rules to give privileged contractor's license to a company owned by Chouhan's brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani. Interestingly, the letter came three days after Chouhan claimed in the state assembly he would take 'sanyas' (retirement) from politics if proved corrupt.

Madhya Pradesh High Court has issued notice to state government on Digvijay Singh’s petition in PEB scam case