Sometimes one ends up in exile while waiting for coronation, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Tuesday, PTI reported.

The BJP emerged victorious in the recent Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections, winning 163 of 230 seats. While the BJP had contested the polls without declaring a chief ministerial candidate, it was speculated that Chouhan may get a fifth term if the party wins.

However, the party picked Mohan Yadav, a three-time MLA from Ujjain South Assembly constituency, to become the chief minister. Yadav was the higher education minister in the preceding Chouhan government.

“There must be some big objective somewhere,” PTI quoted Chouhan as saying. “Sometimes, by the time ‘rajtilak’ [coronation] takes place, one even ends up in ‘vanvas’ [exile]. But all this happens to fulfil some or the other objective.”

Chouhan made these remarks while addressing an event in Shahganj town in his Budhni Assembly constituency.

“I will not go anywhere, I will live here and die here,” Chouhan said.

This was in response to some members of the audience shouting: “Bhaiya [brother], don’t go anywhere, leaving us alone.”

The former chief minister also said that the schemes started during his tenure, including the Ladli Behna Yojana, a housing scheme for beneficiaries of the Ladli Behna scheme and a scheme providing one job per family, will be completed by the new government.

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