Babulal Gaur(L) and Shyama Charan Shukla
The central state of Madhya Pradesh ever since coming into statehood in the 1950 has seen an interesting switch of power almost every election, especially between the grand old party Congress and the BJP. And even after the division of the state with Chhattisgarh being carved out, the political dynamics of the state has stayed relevant, especially with other smaller parties entering the fray.
With a state as important as Madhya Pradesh, there are several important leaders who have managed to sway the public toward their parties often. The important stalwarts among them being the current CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan, opposition's Kamal Nath, Digvijaya Singh, Jyotiraditya Scindia among others.
Let's take a look at the oldest and youngest chief ministers to ever hold the position in the state, both before and after the formation of Chhattisgarh state.
Shyama Charan Shukla: Congress
Born in then undivided Madhya Pradesh in Raipur, Shukla was the son of the first CM of the state and he assumed the post at the age of 44 in 1969 for the first time from the Indian National Congress. Shukla became the CM thrice in total, in 1975 and then in 1989. He was the 7th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.
Babulal Gaur : BJP
Serving as the 16th chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, Babulal Gaur was a formidable name in the state's politics. Gaur assumed the post after the first and only female CM of the state Uma Bharti resigned over an arrest warrant in her name over the Hubli riots of 1994. Gaur took over the reins from Bharti at the ripe age of 75.
He went on to be the man-in charge of MP till 2005 to make way for Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Gaur has been elected to the MP Assembly 10 times.
He retired from electoral politics in 2018 owing to ill-health and passed away in 2019 at the age of 90.
Madhya Pradesh's 230 Assembly constituencies go to poll on November 17 and the results are scheduled to be out on December 3.