Out of the sixteen Chief Ministers, six were from the Jana Sangh and BJP. They were Kailash Joshi, V.K. Sakhlecha. S.L. Patwa, Uma Bharati, Babulal Gaur and Shivraj Singh Chouhan. But barring Shivraj Singh Chouhan no Chief Minster could complete full term. What is the mystery which gave Chouhan remarkably stability lasting 11 years.

He has performed the balancing act with remarkable finesses. Thus, if he goes for ‘Govardhan parikrama’, he is also present at the Eidgah, sporting a skull cap, embracing the namazis. If the Tirthdarshan train takes you to Badrinath, Vaishodevi, Haridwar and Rameshwaram, it also takes you to Ajmer, Amritsar, Sammed Shikhar, Shravanbelgola and Vailakanni Church. There is little doubt that Chouhan is implementing the RSS agenda with great alacrity but he is making it sure that at least in style–if not in substance–he is seen as a leader who gives equal respect to all religions. To wriggle into the good books of the RSS, he has allowed government employees to attend RSS shakhas and his government has been organising a series of programmes clearly aimed at furthering the Sangh ideology. The Buddhist University, Hindi convention, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Hindi University, Vaicharik Mahakumbh and the recent Lokmanthan are only some examples of projects and programmes initiated at the behest of the RSS. But still, he is not seen as a rabidly communal sanghi.

When he was sworn in as the chief minister of the state in November 2005, Chouhan was a greenhorn, as far as ministerial assignments are concerned. True, he was four-time member of the Lok Sabha from the Vidisha Parliamentary constituency neighbouring Bhopal but he had not served as a minister for a day. At that time, no one could have imagined that 11 years later, he would still be presiding over the destiny of the state. But then, as they say, facts are stranger than fiction.

In personal interaction, Chouhan comes out as an affable, soft-spoken man, not given to arrogance that power seems to infuse into the most humble of men. He earned the sobriquet of ‘paun-paun wale bhaiya’ (Bhaiya, who walks on foot) due to his simplicity and his down-to-earth conduct during his stint as Lok Sabha member from Vidisha. There was hardly a marriage or a ‘Tehernvi’ in his constituency which he missed. Though he maintained a low-profile in the Parliament and was seldom seen and rarely heard on the Lok Sabha Television, he struck deep roots in his constituency.

Even after taking over as chief minister, he continued his interactions with the people. After the recent train accident near Kanpur, he immediately flew to the UP city, visited the accident site and hospitals and arranged medical facilities for the victims from Madhya Pradesh. This when neither the chief minister of UP (where the accident had taken place) nor of Bihar (to which most of the passengers of the train belonged) bothered to do so.

Chouhan has devised a novel way of interacting with the commoners. He has been holding “Panchayats” of specific sections of the society at his residence. Among others, Panchayats of farmers, industrial workers, agricultural workers, NGOs, Kotwars, Hammals, women domestic workers, barbers, students, Panchayat office-bearers, teachers, fishermen, artisans, lawyers, senior citizens, ‘Pheriwallahs’–the list can go on and on–have been held.

In every Panchayat, around 1000-1200 representatives of the section concerned are invited to the chief minister’s residence. The chief minister plays a genial host. He gives them a patient hearing, invariably announces some sops for them and they are treated to a sumptuous lunch.

The strategy has, no doubt, worked wonders for his image. The participants go back with the satisfaction of being invited by the chief minister, of being heard patiently by him and of enjoying a lunch at his residence. The chief minister, in turn, gets an opportunity to get feedback from the ground level.

While earlier chief ministers had also devised ways to interact directly with the people, most of these interactions were in the nature of “durbars”, where the chief ministers accepted petitions from the people and forwarded them for appropriate action to the departments concerned. Though several Panchayats were held but the beneficiaries complained that follow up action was lacking. It was never a host-guest relationship but a ruler-ruled one.

The multi-crore Vyapam scam has dented the image of Madhya Pradesh. The involvement of high profile persons and the mysterious deaths of witnesses have raised questions over law and order as well as governance. The opposition Congress consistently raises issues related to Vyapam scam to embarrass the government. To some extent Vyapam has also affected the image of Chouhan himself. Though the Chief Minister has not faced any political challenge in his party but several adversaries have been talking in whispers against Chouhan. The main complaint is that though the Chief Minister makes several announcements but in most of the cases, the announcements are partly implemented and sometimes not implemented at all.

Chief Minister has also organised several investment summits and also made trips to foreign countries seeking investment in industries but the critics say that not much have been achieved despite several attempts. Another complaint is that officers do not listen to people's representatives and they ignore their request for development in their respective areas. But these whispering campaign could never take the shape of challenge to his leadership. Not only his success in the general elections but also victories in by-elections have ensured that there is no challenge to his leadership.

In fact backing by the RSS is the singular important factor which gave him unprecedented stability. (IPA Service)