'Tattoo of PM Modi, Shivraj Singh Chouhan cost me Army job'

BHOPAL: A 23-year-old from Madhya Pradesh's Tikamgarh district has alleged that the Army rejected him as he had a tattoo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on his chest.

Saurabh Bilgaiyan now wants to meet the two leaders to ask why he was shown the door. "I was not dropped for lacking in any department, but for a tattoo which says 'Jab tak sooraj chand rahega Shivraj mama aur Modi ka naam rahega'," he said. Bilgaiyan told TOI that he had tried to join the Army five times.

"In 2014, I went to Karadi near Pune in Maharashtra, where I was first disqualified. Later, I went to Anuppur and Guna army camps, but the same thing happened there," the Class X pass-out said. Bilgaiyan said officials rejected him after they saw the tattoo during chest measurement.

During the run-up to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, he became impressed by Modi. He is also full of praise for CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan. He got the tattoo in February 2014.