Vishnu Deo Sai to become new Chhattisgarh CM: All you need to know about the tribal leader and former union minister

Former Union Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vishnu Deo Sai is set to become the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. A prominent tribal face of the BJP, Sai will take over as the next Chhattisgarh CM before January 3, 2024 — when the tenure of the Chhattisgarh Assembly ends. It is not yet known as to when will Sai take oath as the new CM. 

After being appointed as the 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."

Who is Vishnu Deo Sai?

PC Mohan, the Lok Sabha member from Bangalore Central constituency, took to X on Sunday to announce that Vishnu Deo Sai is the new Chhattisgarh CM. He called Sai "a grassroots leader".

Vishnu Deo Sai belongs to a tribal community. He hails from the influential Sahu (Teli) community which has a sizable presence in the Durg, Raipur and Bilaspur divisions, news agency PTI reported.

BJP leader and Union Minister Renuka Singh Saruta said, “I am very happy that Vishnu Deo Sai will be the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. This is the first time a party worker from the tribal community belonging to a farmer's family has been elected as the CM...”

With a formal announcement on Sunday, Vishnu Deo became Chhattisgarh's second tribal chief minister after Ajit Jogi. Ajit Jogi was however ruled out as an ST in 2019, the Hindustan Times reported.

Sai won the Chhattisgarh Election 2023 from the Kunkuri constituency, defeating UD Minj of the Congress by 25541 vote margin. Check fill list of Chhattisgarh Election winners here

He has been the “National Working Committee Member” of the BJP and former union minister of state for mines, steel  in the first Cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was among the then 10 sitting BJP MPs in Chhattisgarh who were denied tickets for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Vishnu Deo Sai served as the BJP's Chhattisgarh president from 2006 to 2010 and again from January-August 2014. After the BJP lost power in the state in 2018, he was again given the responsibility to lead the party in Chhattisgarh in 2020. He was replaced with Arun Sao, an OBC leader, in 2022, just a year ahead of the assembly polls.

Ahead of the polls in November this year, Sai was named a member of the BJP national executive in July.

Vishnu Deo Sai began his political career as a member of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly between 1990-98 before Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh. He was a member of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly from 1990-1998 from the Tapkara constituency. 

In 1998, he unsuccessfully contested the Assembly polls from the adjoining Pathalgaon seat. Later, in 1999, he was elected to the Lok Sabha from Raigad seat. Vishnu Deo won four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the Raigarh constituency from 1999 to 2014, news agency PTI reported.

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.

The assembly elections in Chhattisgarh 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 PTI)