t was the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi that made Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Chouhan seek a CBI inquiry into the Vyapam scam. This is contrary to what his close associates and BJP spokespersons are claiming, that it was Chouhan's decision to seek the probe. Senior BJP leaders told this newspaper that Chouhan was opposing a CBI inquiry for years, but finally wilted after pressure from the Prime Minister.

According to sources in the Chief Minister's House in Bhopal, the indication coming from Chouhan until Monday was that he was not in a mood to seek an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation. Chouhan, according to these sources, sent out the message that since both the Jabalpur High Court and the Supreme Court had earlier stated that there was no need for a CBI inquiry, he was right in not transferring the case to the investigating agency.

However things changed once PM Modi's decision to go for a CBI inquiry was conveyed to the party leadership.

"Even when he came to Delhi last week, flanked by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Chouhan had made it clear that there was no need for a CBI inquiry. However, after the death of a TV journalist came to light, the PM felt that asking the CBI to take over the investigation had become necessary. He conveyed this to the top leadership of the BJP, before leaving for Central Asia and Russia. Once this communication from the PM was received, the same was conveyed to Chouhan by the party leadership," a senior BJP leader familiar with the development said.

BJP sources said that after the PM's message, a meeting took place in New Delhi on Monday evening, which was attended by Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, who is the party's in-charge of Madhya Pradesh, Union ministers Ananth Kumar and Narendra Singh Tomar, Madhya Pradesh BJP president Nand Kumar Chouhan and BJP president Amit Shah. On Tuesday morning, Amit Shah called Chouhan, asking him to seek a CBI inquiry into the scam. It was after this that the MP CM wrote a letter to the Jabalpur High Court, requesting for a CBI inquiry, just 20 minutes before he announced the same in a press conference in Bhopal.

BJP leaders said that the scam, in which at least 45 people directly or indirectly related to Vyapam have been killed or have died mysteriously, has become a cause for huge concern for the party. "News regarding the scam pre-dating to the times when the Congress was in power in the state is also coming in and hence, rather than being on the defensive, the CM should have ordered the CBI inquiry long ago. The allegations against Chouhan do not just affect him but also paints the party and the RSS wrongly, especially at a time when the crucial Bihar elections are just months away," the leader added.

According to senior party leaders, the possibility of shifting Chouhan to Delhi for a "bigger role" as a party functionary can also not be ruled out in the coming weeks. The fact that between December 2008 and March 2012, Chouhan himself held the Medical Education portfolio, when irregularities in the pre-medical test were detected, is also likely to haunt him in the near future.

According to Madhya Pradesh based BJP leaders, Chouhan's image as a man of good governance has been dented because of this scam and the decision to bring in the CBI should have been taken by him on his own, rather than waiting for directions from the party leadership. These sources said that Chouhan might not have been personally involved in the scam, but some of his relatives, who have a history of calling up government servants and MLAs, seeking favours by flaunting their relationship with Chouhan, may have known about the scam.

"As is desirable, publicly, every BJP leader has been standing with Chouhan all throughout. However, for how long that would have continued if he had continued with his rigidity on not bringing in the CBI is something that can be gauged from the fact that last week Uma Bharti finally spoke up against him. It would have been much better if he himself had ordered the inquiry," a senior BJP Rajya Sabha member said.