Madhya Pradesh elections: Congress fields Arun Yadav against CM Shivraj Chouhan from Budhni

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has fielded former Union Minister and its ex-state chief Arun Yadav against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni assembly constituency.

The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has fielded former Union Minister and its ex-state chief Arun Yadav (extreme right) against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni assembly constituency. Photo: Twitter

NEW DELHI: The Congress in Madhya Pradesh has fielded former Union Minister and its ex-state chief Arun Yadav against Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan from Budhni assembly constituency. Budhni, over 60 kilometres from state's capital Bhopal, is Chouhan's home turf from where he was first elected as MLA in 1990. This would be the fifth time he will be contesting from the seat, close to his ancestral village of Jait in Sehore. Also, the Congress has made Sanjay Singh Masani, brother-in-law of MP CM Chouhan, its nominee from Waraseoni assembly seat in Balaghat district, currently represented by BJP's Yogendra Nirmal. A native of Maharashtra, Masani's name figured on the fourth list of 29 candidates released Wednesday by the Congress. A year after becoming an MLA in 1990, Chouhan was elected MP when he won a bypoll from Vidisha constituency in 1991 after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee quit the seat. Chouhan went on to win Vidisha LS seat in 1996, 1998, 1999 and 2004. In 2003, Chouhan unsuccessfully contested assembly polls from Raghogarh in Guna district, against then chief minister Digvijaya Singh. In 2005, against the backdrop of infighting among state BJP leaders, Chouhan took over as Madhya Pradesh CM and in 2006 contested from Budhni to get elected to the MP Assembly. He beat the Congress's Rajkumar Patel, a former minister, by a margin of 36,000 votes. He won from the seat again in 2008 and 2013 assembly polls, defeating the Congress's Mahesh Singh Rajput and Mahendra Singh Chauhan by a margin of 41,000 and 84,000 votes respectively. (Wth PTI inputs)