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Nagpur: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan on Wednesday paid a visit to RSS Headquarters in Nagpur mainly to clear the air on dropping of Babulal Gaur from his Ministry. Gour was reportedly expressed his disappointed over his removal from the Chauhan Cabinet.
The MP Chief Minister was summoned by RSS to explain his move to remove Gaur. After his arrival at Hedgewar Smruti Mandir-based RSS Headquarters, Chauhan held a three-hour closed door meeting with top functionaries Bhaiyyaji Joshi, Dattatray Hosbale and Suresh Soni and clarified his stand. He also met the RSS Sarsanghachalak Mohan Bhagwat and discussed important issues including Gaur removal for over 45 minutes.
It is pertinent to recall that the MP Chief Minister, in the recent expansion and reshuffle of his Ministry, had sidelined the senior leader Babulal Gaur. The move sparked dissention in State Unit of Bharatiya Janata Party. Reports suggested Gaur was in contact with Congress leaders. It was a clear but stern message to RSS that if ‘justice’ is not done to him, he will not hesitate to join the rival party. However, the adverse reports in media forced Gaur to deny such a move being contemplated by him. But the RSS office-bearers got the message right and were disturbed by the reported rift in State BJP and wanted the situation calm down as soon as possible. Hence the Chief Minister was summoned to Nagpur to clarify his stand over the matter.
The expansion and reshuffle of Ministry was undertaken to induct new faces in place of the senior ministers who have crossed 75 years of age. And with this exercise, the veteran leaders Babulal Gaur and Sartaj Singh were dropped from the Chauhan Cabinet. However, the two disappointed leaders, in a tactical but shrewd move, jolted the RSS leadership by saying they have contacted former Chief Minister and Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh for their entry in his party. Moreover, many ministers and MLAs too had opened a front against the Chief Minister expressing their disgust over removal of Gaur and Sartaj Singh. RSS Headquarters was keeping a close watch on the happenings in Madhya Pradesh and to control the damage, had summoned Shivraj Singh Chauhan.
