Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 10: Vishnu Deo Sai – tribal leader and former Union Minister will be the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh. He was the BJP’s pick as the leader of the legislature party at its meeting held in state capital of Raipur on Sunday afternoon.
All the 54 newly-elected MLAs were present at the meeting. His name was proposed by former Chief Minister Raman Singh and supported by former Minister and senior MLA Brijmohan Agrawal.
After being elected as BJP legislature party leader, Mr Sai along with BJP MLAs reached the Raj Bhavan to stake claim to form the next government in Chhattisgarh. Mr Agarwal later told reporters, “We have handed over a letter to the Governor stating that Sai ji has been elected as the legislative party leader.” However, Mr Agrawal said the date of the swearing-in ceremony would be informed later.
The selection – made after a week of deliberations — is along the lines of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s idea of having a tribal leader as the Chief Minister of the state, where tribals form 32 per cent of the population. They are the largest population group in the state after the Other Backward Classes — a situation that had initially left the BJP torn between picking a tribal and an OBC member. .
The decision, however, went in favour of tribals in view of the party’s unprecedented performance in the states’ tribal areas. The BJP, never on top of tribals’ list of favourites, had managed to turn around the mood and corner all 14 assembly seats in the tribal-dominated Surguja region and eight of the 12 seats in Bastar.
Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and other party leaders, Mr Sai said, “As the Chief Minister, I will try to fulfil PM Modi’s guarantees through the government.” Sanctioning 18 lakh houses to beneficiaries of a housing scheme will be his government’s first work, he said.
That Mr Sai could be picked for a larger role was indicated by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who while addressing a poll rally in the Kunkuri, Mr Sai’s constituency, last month, had asked the voters to elect him. Mr Sai would be made a “big man” if the party comes to power in the state, Mr Shah had said.
The BJP won 54 seats in the 90-member Assembly in the recently held assembly election and wrested power from the Congress, which was reduced to 35 seats from the 68 it won in 2018.
Mr Sai is a prominent figure in the BJP and has held various positions, including being the former State party chief and former Union Minister. Mr Sai hails from the influential Sahu (Teli) community which has a sizable presence in the Durg, Raipur and Bilaspur divisions.
He served as State president of the party for Chhattisgarh from 2020 until 2022. He was the Union Minister of State for Mines, Steel in the first PM Modi cabinet. He is highly regarded among tribal voters. Earlier, senior leader Raman Singh said the party may have a deputy Chief Minister, ahead of a meeting of the newly-elected MLAs in the state.
Three observers, Union Ministers Arjun Munda and Sarbananda Sonowal and party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, were also present along with the party’s in charge for Chhattisgarh Om Mathur, Union Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and co-in-charge for the state Nitin Nabin.
