RIVER NARMADA SAVES CHOUHAN

THE BJP’S “stunning” victory in Uttar Pradesh had kicked off celebrations among saffronites across the country, but appeared to have made the camp of Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan nervous. For the saffron surge in North India, discernible in the unexpected show of the party in the just-concluded Assembly polls in UP and Uttarakhand, has led the rumour mills speculating on a change of leadership in MP run rampant. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has firmed up his grip over the party by leading the BJP to a record victory in UP, and he is now set to change leaderships in BJPruled states, keeping in view the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the rumours spread. The chief minister’s clarification that he was not moving to New Delhi had hardly calmed down the raging rumours. The speculation has grown so strong that it needed Union home minister Rajnath Singh to step in to subside it by denying categorically of such a move. Even the chief minister’s “rivals”, Union water resources minister Uma Bharti and BJP national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, had to be roped in by loyalists to declare in public that the party would go to coming Assembly elections in the state under Mr Chouhan’s leadership. Even as the chief minister’s camp has heaved a sigh of relief for being able to counter the rumours of his replacement, his detractors however have found the ongoing Narmada Seva Yatra, launched by the chief minister on December 11 last year, as his saviour. “The chief minister has been mobilising saints and hermits all over the country to perform pujas on the bank of Narmada during his ongoing campaign to save the mighty river from pollution. It seems Narmada ‘maiyya’ (goddess) is very much pleased with his devotion to her and hence protected his chair at the juncture,” a dissident BJP leader explained. “But will he be able to retain Narmada’s blessings to save his post after May 11 this year, when the highprofile campaign will wind up,” they wondered.