Madhya Pradesh: Shivraj Singh Chouhan becomes longest serving BJP CM

New Delhi/Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Shivraj Singh Chouhan has become the longest-serving BJP Chief Minister in office after beating the previous record of 15 years and 10 days set by former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh.

On Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister completed 15 years and 11 days in office.

Chouhan first became the Chief Minister in November 2005 by replacing Babulal Gaur and remained in the office till 2018.

From December 2018 to March 2020, Kamal Nath was the Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

In March 2020, the BJP once again formed the government in the state with the help of Jyotiraditya Scindia, with Chouhan taking over as Chief Minister.

Congratulating Chouhan, Madhya Pradesh BJP media in-charge, Lokendra Parashar tweeted: "Shivraj Singh ji became the longest serving Chief Minister of BJP. Many congratulations to you for your remarkable achievement."

Record of the longest serving Chief Minister in the country is held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling for over 24 years, West Bengal's Jyoti Basu for over 23 years and Arunachal Pradesh's Gegong Apang for 22 years.

Among the current Chief Ministers, Odisha's Naveen Patnaik holds the record longest serving record for 22 years.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also one of the longest serving BJP Chief Ministers of BJP.

Modi had served as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for almost 13 years from October 2001 to May 2014.

On February 24 this year, Modi completed two decades as an elected public representative.