Nearly ten days after retaining its reign in Madhya Pradesh with a clear victory in the assembly polls, the BJP is all set to end the suspense of who will be the next Chief Minister of the state, that remains as the saffron party's fortress for years. The BJP, which has a trait of revealing its Chief Ministerial candidate in assembly elections, has this time refrained from breaking the suspense not only in Madhya Pradesh, but also in other two states that it won - Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. 

On Sunday - December 10, the BJP announced tribal leader and party veteran Vishnu Deo Sai as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, a state that surprised Congress by ousting its rule. With ending the suspense in Chhattisgarh, all eyes are on Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. According to our sources, the BJP will be revealing the face of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister on Monday - December 11. 

In picking up the Chief Ministerial candidates, it has been reported that the BJP would be weighing in the prospect of winning these states in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. Madhya Pradesh, a crucial state in the Hindi belt, has 29 Lok Sabha seats and the BJP is considering bringing a new face from prominent communities as the Chief Minister. The BJP will hold legislative party meetings on Monday to finalize the candidate. 

The BJP's central observers - Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, OBC Morcha head K Laxman, and secretary Asha Lakra would preside over the legislative party meeting after which the party would announce its Chief Ministerial pick. However, it appears that Shivraj Chouhan, who was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh during the BJP rules, won't get the opportunity to serve again and there are handful of leaders who are in the Chief Ministerial race. 

The battle to win the realm includes former Union Ministers Prahlad Patel, Narendra Singh Tomar, Union Minister for Civil Aviation Jyotiradtiya Scindia, senior BJP leader in the state Kailash Vijayvargiya, and BJP Madhya Pradesh chief VD Sharma. Several reports also claim that Chouhan is also in the race, though his candidature wasn't declared before the elections.

If Chouhan wins the race and becomes the Chief Minister, he will etch a history by serving the apex role for a record fifth term. Earlier, he asserted that he is not in the Chief Ministerial race. "We all work under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We are humble workers for the party. I am not in the CM race", he opined. On Monday, the BJP central observers will also have rendezvous with senior state leaders and legislators in the sidelines of the legislative party meeting. 

The BJP central leadership seems to go with a trend of naming a tribal leader in Madhya Pradesh after appointing tribal leader Vishnu Sai as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. Giving a hint that the party would pick a face from the tribal community in Madhya Pradesh, outgoing minister Om Prakash Dhurve said that Madhya Pradesh's new cabinet will have a sizeable tribal representation. 

"In the new cabinet, tribal leaders will get a good opportunity to work for the welfare of tribal and others", Dhurve stated. It is pertinent to noted that BJP has won 163 seats in the 230-member assembly in Madhya Pradesh, while Congress endured a debacle by securing 66 seats. The election results were declared on December 3 and nearly ten days later, Madhya Pradesh is eagerly waiting to welcome the new Chief Minister.