ABVP leader to CM: Yadav rises up the ranks in BJP to helm MP

Mohan Yadav, 58, may have been a surprise pick as chief minister of Madhya Pradesh-his name did not even find a mention among the hopefuls being speculated upon - but there's no denying his credentials.

- Shruti Tomar

A student leader for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the RSS's student wing in the early 1980s, when just out of his teens; city president of the RSS in Ujjain by the mid1990s, and then of the BJP by 2003; a first-time legislator in 2013 (he has won all three elections he contested, including that year's); state education minister in 2020; and now, chief minister.

His commitment to the BJP's core ideology, administrative and political experience, and the fact that he belongs to another backward class (OBC), a group that is a key constituent of the BJP's rainbow Hindu coalition, has made Yadav the man tasked with leading Madhya Pradesh, replacing the three-term incumbent Shivraj Singh Chouhan.