Shivraj completes 10 years in office

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday completed 10 years in office, becoming the first non-Congress chief minister to do so, even as his tenures saw challenges like the Vyapam scam and defeat in recently-held Lok Sabha bypoll.

With his two back-to-back terms, Chouhan broke the record of his predecessor and senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, who ruled the state for two consecutive terms from 1993-2003. The BJP has organised a celebration to mark the completion of the period. The 56-year-old BJP leader was sworn-in as the state'sCM for the first time on November 29, 2005, after the tumultuous run of the BJP-government that came to power in 2003 which then waded through political turbulence by having two chief ministers in a short span of two years.

In 2003, Union Minister Uma Bharati led a surcharged poll campaign to dethrone the then chief minister Digvijaya Singh, who headed the state Congress government since 1993. Bharati remained at the top post from December 8, 2003 to August 22, 2004.

After that, Babulal Gaur became the chief minister of the state till November 29, 2005. Though Digvijaya Singh defeated Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the former's princely state and home turf Raghogarh in 2003, the destiny had much more in store for Chouhan, as within two years since that loss, he became the Chief Minister Madhya Pradesh replacing Babulal Gaur, the present Home Minister of the state.

Chouhan first got elected as an MLA in 1989-90 from Budhni Assembly seat and was later forced to contest the Lok Sabha polls from Vidisha against his wishes. Since then he represented the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat for five consecutive terms till 2004. Though he had served the party in a number of important positions, he never had any administrative experience till he became the chief minister in 2005.