BHOPAL: Putting to rest all speculations, BJP president Amit Shah announced on Friday that the 2018 assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh will be fought under the leadership of chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan "I must clarify on record that the 2018 assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh will be contested under the leadership of Shivraj Singh Chouhan," Shah said during an informal chat with editors on Friday. Chouhan has always rejected reports that he might move to the Centre. I am going to stay here and help the party win the assembly elections in 2018 for the fourth consecutive time," Chouhan had said.Shah, however, did not comment on whether state BJP chief Nandkumar Singh Chauhan would get an extension. He recently completed three years in office — the usual tenure for state BJP chiefs.Praising the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government at another event, the BJP president said that the "Bimaru (laggard)" tag has been removed from BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. "My term as a legislator in Gujarat is nearing completion, so I opted for the Rajya Sabha.

Source: Times of India August 19, 2017 05:26 UTC