Shivraj Singh Chauhan to replace Gaur as MP CM

     New Delhi: Madhya Pardesh Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Shivraj Singh Chauhan will take over from Babulal Gaur as the Chief Minister of the State, while senior party leader Uma Bharati has been appointed National General Secretary of the BJP. The decisions were taken at a meeting of the BJP Central Parliamentary Board here today, Party General Secretary Arun Jaitley said, adding that Chief Minister Babulal Gaur had offered to step down. Earlier in the day, BJP Parliamentary Board had failed to come to any decision over the issue in its first round of discussions which was chaired by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and was attended by BJP President LK Advani and other leaders. However, as the day progressed Uma Bharati met the party's top leaders, including Advani, Vajpayee and party general secretary Pramod Mahajan. According to party sources, after a series of discussion between senior party leaders with the state unit leaders, the parliamentary board of the party again met in the evening and decided to replace Gaur with Chauhan.