"Shivraj Singh Chouhan is Dhoni of politics...": Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in Neemuch

Sep 04, 2023

Neemuch (Madhya Pradesh) [India], September 4 : Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday called Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan as "Dhoni" of politics, referring to former Indian Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who used to make masterstrokes during the tough times in the match, earning the epitaph of "Captain Cool".
Addressing a public rally in Neemuch, Rajnath Singh said, "I have seen the Madhya Pradesh CM working in the field of politics. If I say that your 'mama' Shivraj Singh Chouhan is the 'Dhoni' of politics, then that would not be an exaggeration. I am calling him the 'Dhoni' of politics because I have known him for the last 30 years. No matter how the beginning is, he knows to win the cricket match by giving a good finish."
"This is the art of Shivraj Singh Chouhan. But he has gained political success not just based on art, he has served the people like a caretaker. This is how he has gained the trust of the people," he added. 
Rajnath Singh further targeted former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath and said that no work was done under his previous one-and-a-half-year tenure. 
"Kamal Nath came for a year and a half and what he did do? The poor should have a roof over their head, and for that PM Modi approved houses for here. But he (Kamal Nath) said we will not make 2 lakh homes. He was worried that PM Modi would get the credit. In his governance of 1.5 years, he cancelled all our schemes and hindered the schemes coming from the centre," he said.
He further mentioned that Congress has accepted that they cannot defeat the BJP alone and the INDIA bloc is an outcome of that.   
"Congress has added a new clan INDIA. They have accepted that they cannot defeat the BJP alone," he added. 
Madhya Pradesh is among the five states where assembly elections are to be held later this year to elect 230 members of the state.
In the 2018 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Congress emerged as the single largest party with 114 seats and BJP got 109 seats.
However, in 2020, the Congress government lost the majority followed by the resignations of some MLAs. After this, the BJP formed the government in the state and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was reinstated as the Chief Minister.