Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Monday filed his nomination for the Budhni assembly constituency under Sehore district in Madhya Pradesh.
The four-time chief minister Mr Chouhan has been representing Budhni since 2006.
Mr Chouhan visited his native village of Jait in Sehore district and worshipped his family deity before marching to Budhni, accompanied by his family members as well as the local women beneficiaries of his flagship ‘Ladli Behna’ scheme, to file his papers in the office of the local returning officer.
“We will serve the public and will do it in such a way that our work will get recognition across the globe. I have the sole goal of making the lives of people better. I want to tell the women of the entire state that in the coming five years, my mission will be to make every sister a ‘Lakhpati Didi’”, Mr Chouhan said after filing his nomination as a BJP candidate.
He had also represented Vidisha Lok Sabha constituency, under which Budhi assembly seat falls, four times earlier.
Congress candidate Vikram Mastal, who portrayed the character of Hanuman in the TV serial Ramayan-2, also filed a nomination for the seat.
Mr Mastal took the plunge into politics barely seven months ago by joining Congress.
The battle for Budhni took an interesting twist when Mahamandaleshwar Vairagyanand Giri, famously known as ‘Mirchi Baba’, filed a nomination for the seat on Monday as a candidate of Samajwadi Party (SP).
The seer gained the reputation as ‘Mirchi ‘Baba’ for conducting a unique ‘havan’ by adding chilli to the fire for his disciples.
A native of Borkhedi village in Bhind district in Madhya Pradesh, ‘Mirchi Baba’ is originally Rakesh Dubey who had worked as a labourer in an oil mill.
He later turned seer.
He was accorded the status of minister of state by the Kamal Nath government.
He shot into the limelight when he declared that he would ensure the victory of Digvijay Singh in the Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency in 2019 by conducting ‘Mirchi yagna’ and took a vow that he would take ‘Jaal Samadhi’, watery grave if he failed to ensure it.
Mr Singh who fought the elections as a Congress candidate in the polls then, lost to BJP nominee Pragyan Singh Thakur by a margin of over 3.60 lakhs.
‘Mirchi Baba’ was jailed for 13 months after being charged of rape by a woman in 2019 and later released on bail.
