Will sing 'Vande Mataram' on first day of MP Assembly: Chouhan

Former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan Wednesday said he and all other BJP MLAs will sing "Vande Mataram" on the first day of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly session, if the Congress-led state government does not restore the practice of reciting it at the secretariat.

The song was not sung on Tuesday, the first working day of January, at the state secretariat following which the opposition BJP attacked Chief Minister Kamal Nath, seeking to know if it was done on his direction.

Nath, however, said the discontinuation was temporary and the practice would be restored in a new form.

Singing of the national song in the 'Mantralaya' or secretariat on the first working day of every month had been the norm since the time of erstwhile Shivraj Singh Chouhan government of the BJP.

Taking a dim view of the 13-year-old practice not being followed now, Chouhan in a tweet in Hindi said, "I and all the BJP MLAs will sing the national song at the Vallabh Bhawan (secretariat) premises on the first day of the Assembly session on January 7. People are welcome to join this campaign."