When Shivraj Singh Chauhan, 59, slowly climbed up the small stairs of the picturesque Raj Bhawan here this morning, memories of his first swearing-in ceremony must have conjured up his mind. It was the Congress stalwart Dr Balram Jakhar who had sworn him in as CM in November 2005 following dramatic political situations that had led Babulal Gaur to quit. Later, Shivraj got an opportunity to work with a few Congress-nominated Governors with consummate ease.

But today he was handing over his rather unexpected resignation letter to one of his former counterparts from BJP, incumbent Governor Anandiben Patel, until recently the BJP CM of Gujarat. Unexpected because, Chauhan, a towering BJP leader from the OBC, was quite confident of playing yet another innings with what he hoped would be a handsome victory of 165 seats. With his stepping down on Wednesday, a record-breaking 15-year-old regime of the rightist party came to an end in the heart of India.

Chauhan-baiters were quick to emerge from the shadows and have criticised party leadership for depending too much in one leader. Satyanarayan Sattan, a veteran from Malwa region questioned party higher-ups for not taking timely decisions to create second rung leadership in MP, though he did not take any names. Many others in BJP feel party would be rudder-less now with the power gone and no top leader of credible standing available to lead it, barring union minister Narendra Singh Tomar.

They point out that Uma Bharti has already gone out to UP, Sumitra Mahajan is the Speaker, Sushma Swaraj is bowing out of electoral politics and out of 27 MPs, the state elected in 2004, most are not considered dynamic enough to take on a newly energised Congress in MP.

The challenge before the BJP now is, as a political analyst pointed out, to look for second-rung leadership to replace charismatic Shivraj who appears fatigued and whose sheen is clearly worn out, as of today what with scams and misrule. With impending parliamentary elections in about four months, BJP is clearly under pressure, for the first time in 15 years.