Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh, will be the state chief minister after he was elected as leader of BJP's legislative party during a meeting of 54 newly-elected MLAs in Raipur today (December 10).
"Vishnu Sai is likely to take oath as CM either on December 12 or December 13," said Chhattisgarh state BJP observer Dushyant Kumar Gautam.
What Vishnu Deo said after becoming Chhattisgarh CM?
On becoming the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Vishnu Deo Sai said, "With all honesty, I will work for 'Sabka Vishwas' and the promises made to the people of Chhattisgarh under 'Modi Ki Guarantee' will be fulfilled. As a CM of the state, we will try to fulfill the promises. The first work will be to give 18 lakh 'Awas' to the people."
Earlier, BJP central observers Sarbananda Sonowal and Arjun Munda attended the meeting in Raipur on Sunday with newly elected legislators regarding the chief ministerial candidate in the state.
Former Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh has announced that there will be two Deputy Chief Ministers in the state.
Bhupesh Baghel congratulates Vishnu Deo:
Incidentally, addressing a poll rally in the Kunkuri constituency last month, Union Home Minister and senior BJP leader Amit Shah had urged voters to elect Sai, promising to make the latter a "big man" if the party comes back to power in the state.
Who is Vishnu Deo Sai?
Vishnu Deo Sai won the Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023 from Kunkuri. Sai was the Chhattisgarh state president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from 2020 to 2022. He was also the Minister of State (MoS) for Steel, Mines, Labour and Employment during the first Narendra Modi Cabinet. Vishnu Deo won four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the Raigarh constituency in 1999, 2004, 2009 and 2014.
Sai defeated Congress candidates Pushpa Devi Singh, Rampukar Singh, Hridayaram Rathiya and Arti Singh respectively in these elections. Sai won two consecutive Assembly elections in 1990 and 1993 from the Tapkara constituency in undivided Madhya Pradesh. Vishnu Deo defeated UD Minj, the sitting Congress MLA, this time in the Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023.
Know more about newly-elected Chhattisgarh CM:
Sai has headed the BJP's Chhattisgarh unit three times, displaying the central leadership's faith in his organisational skills. Starting his political career as the sarpanch of an obscure village, Sai rose through the ranks and became a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first Council of Ministers after the BJP formed its full majority government at the Centre in 2014.Though he hails from a farming family based in a small village, Bagia, in the tribal-dominated Jashpur district, politics runs in the blood of the BJP leader.
His grandfather late Budhnath Sai was a nominated MLA from 1947 to 1952. His 'bade pitaji' (elder brother of his father) late Narhari Prasad Sai was a member of the Jan Sangh (BJP's predecessor) and served as a two-term MLA (1962-67 and 1972-77) and was elected as an MP (1977-79) and served as a Minister of State in the Janata Party government.
Another elder brother of his father, late Kedarnath Sai, was also a Jan Sangh member and served as MLA from Tapkara (1967-72). Vishnu Deo Sai studied in a government school in Kunkuri and went to Ambikapur for graduation but quit studies midway and returned to his village in 1988. In 1989, he was elected as a 'panch' of Bagia village panchayat and next year became the sarpanch unopposed.
Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023:
The polling in the state was held in two phases, with the first on November 7 featuring 223 candidates and the second seeing 958 candidates put their electoral fates to the test on November 17.
Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the Congress won 35.
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