A tribal face and also a political veteran who served as a Union minister, Vishnu Deo Sai emerged as the dark horse of the week-long suspense over the chief minister post of Chhattisgarh.
Raipur: Tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai, after being selected by the BJP to become the new chief minister of Chhattisgarh, on Monday affirmed that his government will fulfill all the promises made under ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’.
“As a CM my priority will be to fulfil the promises made to the people. Every section of society was suffering during the five years of Congress rule. Around 18 lakh people have been deprived of Pradhan Mantri Awas…On December 25 the birth anniversary of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, a bonus for two years will be given to the farmers…We will fulfil all the promises made under ‘Modi Ki Guarantee’,” Sai said.
A tribal face and also a political veteran who served as a Union minister, Vishnu Deo Sai emerged as the dark horse of the week-long suspense over the chief minister post of Chhattisgarh.
Moreover, other BJP leaders like Renuka Singh Saruta, OP Chaudhary, and Om Mathur have also expressed their happiness over Vishnu Deo Sai being named as the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh.
Former Chhattisgarh CM and BJP leader Raman Singh announced the name of Vishnu Deo Sai as the next CM of Chhattisgarh during the BJP legislature meeting in Raipur, earlier today.
“Today is the death anniversary of Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh, so we have come to pay tribute to him. BJP really cares about the tribal community. Congress has used them only as a vote bank…BJP itself has formed a separate ministry for the welfare of tribals,” he added.
He further said that BJP has always respected the Tribal community. “BJP has always respected the Tribal community…It is the BJP that has formed a separate Ministry for the welfare of the Tribals…Inquiry and investigation will be done for all the irregularities that have happened,” Sai said.
Vishnu Deo Sai’s name was announced as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on Sunday afternoon after a key meeting of the BJP’s newly-elected 54 MLAs in the state was held in Raipur.
He won the Kunkuri Assembly seat with a total of 87,604 votes. Sai is a prominent figure in the BJP and has held various positions, including being the former state chief and former union minister.
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.
The new chief minister started his political career as a village sarpanch. In 1989, he was elected as a ‘panch’ of Bagia village panchayat and next year became the sarpanch unopposed.
Meanwhile, from a village sarpanch Sai rose to the rank of the Union minister of state for steel in the first Cabinet of PM Modi.
In 1998, he was defeated in the assembly polls from Pathalgaon seat. Vishnu Deo won four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the Raigarh constituency from 1999 to 2014. He was not given a ticket in the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Outgoing chief minister Bhupesh Baghel congratulated Vishnu Deo Sai and wished that he takes forward the journey of justice and progress of Chhattisgarh.
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.
(With inputs from ANI)