Bhopal: Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday said he and all other BJP MLAs will sing "Vande Mataram" on the first day of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly session, if the Congress-led state government does not restore the practice of reciting it at the secretariat. The song was not sung on Tuesday, the first working day of January, at the state secretariat following which the opposition BJP attacked Chief Minister Kamal Nath, seeking to know if it was done on his direction.

Nath, however, said the discontinuation was temporary and the practice would be restored in a new form.

Singing of the national song in the 'Mantralaya' or secretariat on the first working day of every month had been the norm since the time of erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of the BJP.

Taking a dim view of the 13-year-old practice not being followed now, Chouhan in a tweet in Hindi said, "I and all the BJP MLAs will sing the national song at the Vallabh Bhawan (secretariat) premises on the first day of the Assembly session on January 7. People are welcome to join this campaign."

"If the Congress doesn't know the lyrics (words) of Vande Mataram or if they feel ashamed singing it, then let me know. I along with people will sing it on the first day of every month at the Vallabh Bhawan premises," he said in another tweet.

Targeting Nath over the issue, BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijaywargiya said the chief minister should clarify why his government wants to change the "good tradition".

"I suspect the chief minister has come under pressure of those who always say that their religious sentiments get hurt by singing this song," he told reporters in Indore.

Meanwhile, Nath said the practice of singing Vande Mataram on the first working day of every month was being discontinued for the time being and that his government has decided to implement it in a new form ('naya swaroop').

"We have not taken this decision under any agenda nor are we opposed to singing 'Vande Mataram'. It is deeply rooted in our hearts and we have sung it from time-to-time. We will start it again but in a different form," Nath said in a statement.

He also criticised those who were trying to politicize the issue.

"I condemn those who do politics in the name of either temple or Vande Mataram. We are bringing it (Vande Mataram) in a new form and I will make an announcement on it within a day or two," the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, former BJP ministers Uma Shankar Gupta and Vishwas Sarang, MLA Rameshwar Sharma, senior party-office bearer Vishnu Dutt Sharma and a number of BJP workers gathered outside the secretariat and sang Vande Mataram to register their protest over the matter.