Madhya Pradesh polls 2018: Congress field's Arun Yadav, ex-dy CM in Digvijaya Singh's cabinet, against Shivraj Singh Chouhan

Congress has decided to field former Union minister Arun Yadav against Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

Arun, who became the state Congress chief in January 2014, served as an MP from 2007 to 2009 and from 2009 to 2014. He had also served as the Union minister of state, agriculture and food processing industries in the erstwhile Congress-led UPA government. [caption id=“attachment_5522031” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Congress leader Arun Yadav. News18[/caption] Ironically enough, in April, when former Union minister Kamal Nath had replaced Arun as the new president of the Madhya Pradesh Congress, he  said that he would not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha or Assembly elections, but would continue to work for the party. “The party president will decide on my future responsibilities and I will work accordingly,” he said. Arun is the son of former Congress leader Subhash Yadav, who served as deputy chief minister in former chief minister Digvijaya Singh’s cabinet. He is considered  popular among the state’s Yadavs. An article in The Times of India  pointed out that Subhash Yadav was once recognised as the most important farmer leader in Madhya Pradesh during the Congress regime. Being the son of a deputy chief minister hailed as the most important farmer leader at one point of time may give Arun the opportunity to present himself as a suitable alternative to Chouhan. “This way, Arun Yadav is a near replica of BJP mascot Shivraj Singh Chouhan who openly claims he is the son of a farmer and hails from a rural agrarian background,” the article stated. Chouhan filed his nomination papers Monday from Budhni seat in Sehore district in the poll-bound state. Madhya Pradesh goes to polls on 28 November and votes will be counted on 11 December. Budhni, over 60 kilometres from Bhopal, is Chouhan’s home turf: from where he was first elected as MLA in 1990. This will be the fifth time he is contesting from the seat close to his ancestral village of Jait in Sehore. With inputs from PTI and Debobrat Ghose