Strange though it may sound in these days of increased mobile phone usage, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, does not use or carry a cellphone.

The chief minister told PTI that he does not use a mobile phone simply because it hinders his work. Chouhan said that if one has a mobile phone, its number does not remain a secret and people somehow or other come to know of it from anyone.

He said that as chief minister he was much better off without it. Chouhan, however, maintained that though he does not use a mobile phone, his connectivity with the people is no less since he is always available on landline phone or on mobile phones used by his assistants.