Shivraj is BJP face for 2018 MP polls, says Amit Shah

Bhopal: Setting all speculation on any leadership change in Madhya Pradesh to rest, BJP president Amit Shah said Friday chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan would lead the party in the 2018 Assembly polls.

Mr Shah anncounced this during an informal chat with journalists at the residence of state legislative affairs minister Narottam Mishra, who hosted a lunch for him.

By accepting the lunch invitation by Mr Mishra, who was disqualified and barred from contesting elections for three years by the Election Commission in a paid news case, Mr Shah signalled the party fully backed the minister over the issue. The Supreme Court had recently granted a stay on the EC order on Mr Mishra.

Later, addressing party leaders at the BJP’s state HQ, Mr Shah set a target of winning at least 200 out of the total 234 seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.

“I expect no less than 200 seats for the party in 2018 in MP. Besides, I also want us to win all 29 Lok Sabha seats in the state in the 2019 general election,” a party leader quoted him as saying. Mr Shah asked party leaders not to accept donations in black money, but only through cheques and drafts.

Saying the BJP was one of India’s few parties that had internal democracy, Mr Shah said most were run by dynasties. “Only in the BJP is it possible for a worker like me to become party president and for a man like Narendra Modi, who comes from a poor family, to become Prime Minister,” he said.