BJP picks Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal leader, as Chhattisgarh CM

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.

Former Union Minister Vishnu Deo Sai will be the new chief minister if Chattisgarh. Sai was elected as the leader by the newly elected 54 MLAs of the party in presence of central observers nominated bu the BJP high command. 

Sai’s name was proposed by former CM Raman Singh and seconded by former minister Brij Mohan Agarwal. Later the CM elec met governor and staked claimed to form the government that will be sworn in this week. 

Sai is a tribal leader from the reserved Kunkuri assembly seat in Surguja region of north Chhattisgarh, which he won with a margin of over 87,604 votes by defeating UD Minj of Congress in the recently concluded assembly election.

While the BJP did not make any public announcement of the development, former CMs Bhupesh Baghel and Raman Singh congratulated Sai on twitter.

There are also reports that the state might have two deputy CMs — state party president Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma, while Singh could be elected by the party’s MLAs as the Speaker of the Chhattisgarh Assembly.

“I have full confidence that under your leadership, we all will be successful in bringing progressive changes in the state by fulfilling the promises of BJP’s Sankalp Patra (Modi's Guarantee) with full dedication … (Your government) will set new records,” Singh, considered Sai’s mentor, posted on X.

Sai is a BJP old-timer who has been an MLA in undivided Madhya Pradesh. He has been a four-time MP and a three-time MLA. He was a minister in the Modi government in 2014, when he served as the minister of state for steel, but was denied a ticket in 2019 when BJP dropped all its sitting MPs.

Sai started his career as a sarpanch in 1989, and has been part of the RSS in the past. In 2018, after the BJP lost the elections, Sai was made the party president. But in August last year, just a year ahead of the assembly elections, he was replaced by Arun Sao. 

With BJP winning all 14 seats in tribal Surguja region, Sai’s name was among front-runners for the CM post. Several other names, including former CM Raman Singh, state BJP president Arun Saw, and Renuka Singh were doing the rounds but central observers in consultation with newly elected legislative members unanimously decided in favour of Sai.

The BJP's clean sweep in the tribal region of Surjguja and Bastar with overwhelming majority factored as the main reason to elect a tribal leader as the chief minister. Sai also hails from the dominant Sahu (Teli) community with a sizable presence in Durg, Raipur, and Bilaspur.

Notably, dominant face and erstwhile Surguja ruler and former deputy CM T S Singh Dei, nicknamed T S Baba, faced defeat in the Ambikapur seat in Surguja region.

Sai is the first tribal leader to become chief minister of Chhattisgarh after Ajit Jogi, who was allegedly embroiled in a legal tussle owing to his caste.

The BJP won 8 of the 12 seats in Bastar together with all 14 in Surguja (tribal-dominated) region in 2023. After the drubbing they received in 2018, BJP leaders and RSS cadre got active in the tribal belt, raising the issue of alleged religious conversions.

Moreover, the BJP successfully tapped into anti-incumbency sentiments against Congress. Though former CM Raman Singh was also seen as a prominent contender for the top post, the party chose to announce a tribal face which will presumably boost its tribal outreach. The tribal community supported the BJP which won 17 out of 29 tribal seats in Chhattisgarh while Congress got only 11 in the assembly polls.   

In his first reaction after the announcement of his name as CM designate, Sai said that all promises made in the BJP manifesto will be fulfilled. "The overdue bonus of previous two years (during 15  years BJP rule) to paddy growers (kisan) will be disbursed on December 25, which is the birthday of founding member and former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee. Besides, the scheme to construct 18 lakh pucca houses under PM Awas Yojna will also kickstart soon on priority by the newly elected BJP government in the state”, added Sai.

Observers Arjun Munda, Sarbanand Sonowal, and Dushyant Kumar Gautam convened a meeting of the party legislative party to finalise the name of new CM of the state. In the 90-member House BJP won 54 seats (+39) while Congress 35 seats (-33) and one by GGP (Gondwana Gantantra Party).  According to EC the BJP vote share was 46.3 per cent and Congress' vote share at 42.3 per cent in Chhattisgarh in the 2023 assembly election.

The BJP has been making a concerted push for the tribal vote. Last month, at Jharkhand’s Khunti, PM Modi launched the PM JANMAN scheme setting aside Rs 24000 crore for the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs). The appointment of a tribal face as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh is the second such appointment by the BJP, after Droupadi Murmu became the first tribal president of the country.