Who is Vishnu Deo Sai? Facts about Chhattisgarh’s new Chief Minister

The Bharatiya Janata Party ended the suspense over the chief ministerial face in Chhattisgarh, a week after the Assembly poll results were out, and declared a tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai as the next CM of the state on Sunday (December 10). The development comes after the central observers of the BJP held a meeting with the MLAs in Raipur. Party’s three observers – Union ministers Arjun Munda and Sarbananda Sonowal, and party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam – held the brainstorming with the leaders and came up with Sai as the next face of the government in Chhattisgarh where the party came to power, winning 54 seats.

Who is Sai?

Vishnu Deo Sai won the Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023 from Kunkuri. Sai was the Chhattisgarh state president of the 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.

More to follow…