Published Jun 23, 2026 | 3:00 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 23, 2026 | 3:00 PM
Mohan Yadav had been warned by the BJP top brass even before he became CM. Credit: x.com/DrMohanYadav51
Synopsis: Mohan Yadav’s love for land predates his Chief Ministership. Many of the accused in the infamous Vyapam scam were also said to be his followers. Yet, the BJP chose him for the top spot in MP. How Modi will act after the latest embarrassment is the big question.
Was Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, now at the centre of a major controversy surrounding large tracts of land holdings acquired by his family in Ujjain, warned about his real-estate activities even before he ascended the high office?
The answer is a definitive Yes, going by the accounts of senior BJP leaders who were involved in overseeing the political operations in Madhya Pradesh on behalf of the national leadership.
The caution to him came even before he was chosen as the Chief Minister in December 2023, post the BJP’s victory in the Assembly elections.
“It is in your interests that you stay away from real-estate activity,” Yadav was told by observers tasked with conveying the message when he was a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government.
Mohan Yadav, who represents the Ujjain (South) constituency, was first elected as MLA in 2013 and followed it up with a victory again in 2018. In 2020, he was inducted as minister before he emerged as the surprise pick for the post of Chief Minister in 2023.
The larger question is why the BJP top leadership chose Yadav to replace Chouhan despite being fully aware of the former’s questionable actions.
Top sources told South First that a senior RSS pracharak, also hailing from Madhya Pradesh and close to the powers-that-be, played an influential role in the selection of Yadav.
It is not just incidental that several of those accused in the infamous Vyapam scam that rocked the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government were said to be followers of Mohan Yadav. Yet, Chouhan was replaced with Yadav.
“The Chief Minister now has a lot of answering to do and we are not sure if he would be able to come clean,” a senior BJP functionary said.
Yadav has come under a cloud after The Indian Express published an article on Tuesday, June 23, that the Chief Minister and his family members have acquired almost 140 plots with a total spread of 168 acres in and around Ujjain city. The charge is that the plots fall under zones that benefited the most from Mohan Yadav’s infrastructure push in Ujjain ahead of the Simhastha Kumbh in 2028.
The Chief Minister himself announced many road projects as well as housing and satellite townships in proximity to lands belonging to his family, raising serious questions of propriety and conflict of interest.
The advice given by the central observers apparently fell on deaf ears as Yadav’s family continued acquiring lands even after he became the Chief Minister. If at all, the pace of acquiring lands has only increased.
Even as a minister, Yadav exercised a lot of influence in finalising the master plan for Ujjain. The allegation is that the plan has been so designed as to benefit his family the most.
The revelations against Mohan Yadav have come at a time when the BJP leadership is already grappling with concerns about some of the ministers in the Union Cabinet, primarily Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.
Ahead of the expected reshuffle of the Cabinet, the BJP is under considerable pressure to drop Pradhan for the fiasco over the conduct of CBSE examinations, with the Gen Z hitting the streets targeting the Union Minister.
Perhaps for the first time, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is faced with a situation where his ministers are seen to be no different from the ones who were caught in controversies during the previous Congress regime.
Being in power, he must now show to his supporters that the BJP does practise accountability and transparency. And, if he must do that, heads will have to roll unless Modi and the rest of the leadership believe that “nobody can do anything to us.”
(Edited by R Rajesh Kumar)
