Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Saturday called on Governor Mangubhai Patel to invite him for a function on December 4 in Patalpani in Indore to mark the martyrdom of freedom fighter and tribal icon Tantya Bhil.
The meeting between Chouhan and Patel, who happens to be the first governor of the state from a tribal community, lasted for about thirty minutes at Raj Bhawan, officials said.
Recently, Chouhan had announced that Patalpani railway station would be renamed after Tantya Bhil.
The move is being seen by political observers as the BJP's plan to woo the tribal community back into the party's fold in time for the 2023 Assembly polls.
As per the 2011 Census, tribals in MP number 1.53 crore, which is 21.08 per cent of the state's 7.26 crore population, with 47 seats in the 230-memberAssembly being reserved for Schedule Tribes.
The Congress had won 31 of the 47 seats in the 2018 state polls, a situation the ruling BJP wants to set right in 2023.
