Chouhan announces resignation, says will not stake claim to form govt in Madhya Pradesh
Bhopal, Dec 12: Three-time Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday announced his resignation and said the BJP will not stake claim to form government in the state.
The Congress emerged as the single largest party in the state by winning 114 seats, two short of a simple majority.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which ruled the state for 15 years, got 109 seats.
However, it edged ahead of the Congress in the vote share by a slender margin, bagging 41 per cent of the total votes polled, while the Congress got 40.9 per cent.
"We have got more votes, but we will respect the mandate. We haven't got the required seats to form the government. We will not stake claim to form the government and I am submitting my resignation soon to the governor," Chouhan told reporters.
Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati and Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav have announced their parties' support to the Congress in Madhya Pradesh.
Chouhan was the state's longest serving chief minister since 2005.
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Women ought to have been given more seats by Congress in Assembly polls: Satheesan
Kochi (PTI): Congress leader V D Satheesan on Saturday agreed that women ought to have been given more seats in the upcoming Assembly polls.
The Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly said that the party wanted to give more seats to women in the Assembly polls.
"We wanted to give more seats. Even I am not satisfied with that issue. It (seats given) was not enough," he told reporters at Paravoor here.
His response comes a day after Congress national spokesperson Shama Mohamed expressed dissatisfaction over the low representation of women in the party's candidate list for the upcoming Assembly elections on April 9.
Regarding queries related to the UDF support for former CPI(M) leader G Sudhakaran, the opposition leader said that he has a lot of respect for the Marxist veteran who was a "fair minister" when he was in government.
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"He (Sudhakaran) does not lie. He was a fair minister. He distributed funds to all MLAs equally. I still respect him. He took a stand, and after that, we politically backed him," Satheesan said.
He also said that he was greatly indebted to former MLA and Congress Joseph Vazhakan, who had brought him back to the political mainstream.
"So, I am greatly indebted to him. He loved me like a brother. I am sad that even in my current position, I could not ensure a seat for him," he said.
Vazhakan had on Friday expressed his disappointment over being denied a seat at the last moment, as he had printed election posters and banners in preparation to contest in the polls.
He, however, had said that he would remain committed to the party despite the setback.
Vazhakan had said that his name had been under consideration for the Ettumannur constituency, but the Congress on Thursday decided to field DCC president Nattakom Suresh from the seat.
Satheesan, while speaking to reporters, also said that there was nothing wrong with posters being put up in the name of any Congress leader.
"We have no problems with that as the team Congress is united. The CM candidate has already been decided. It's CPI(M) narrative that there are problems in the Congress, there are no issues in the party," he said in response to reporters' queries about posters of K C Venugopal being put up in many places of the state.
