Vishnu Deo Sai to be sworn in as Chhattisgarh CM on December 13 in PM Modi's presence

The oath ceremony of Chhattisgarh CM-designate Vishnu Deo Sai will take place on December 13 along with two deputy Chief Ministers, Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be attending the swearing-in ceremony of Vishnu Deo Sai and his council of ministers, said a government official.

The BJP on Sunday picked Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal leader, as the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh, ending the suspense over who will helm the state which the saffron party wrested from Congress in recent polls. Sai (59) was elected as the BJP's legislative party leader at a meeting of 54 newly-elected MLAs held at the party's state headquarters.


In the evening, Chhattisgarh Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan invited Sai to form a government and handed him a letter pertaining to his appointment as the Chief Minister after the BJP submitted a letter formally staking a claim.

BJP knocked out Congress in the tribal state in the recent state assembly polls. The BJP managed to win 17 of the 29 seats reserved for the Scheduled Tribes (ST) this time. Thus, Vishnu Deo Sai emerged as the top choice when it was decided to pick up a prominent tribal face.

Who is Vishnu Deo Sai?
An agriculturist by profession turned politician, the 59-year-old Vishnu Deo Sai is considered one of the most senior tribal leaders in Chhattisgarh.

Born to a farmer’s family in Bagia village of Jashpur district, a soft-spoken Sai began his political journey in his village before 1990, when he was elected sarpanch unopposed. Before taking the plunge in state politics, Sai had to reportedly sell a part of his property to contest the assembly poll from Tapkara (in former Madhya Pradesh) in 1990, but he never looked back from there.

Tribal communities account for 32 per cent of the state's population and once again played a crucial role in bringing the saffron party back to power.

Sai served as the Union Minister of State for Steel in the first Modi government and as a Member of Parliament for Chhattisgarh's Raigarh constituency. This time he contested from the Kunkuri seat and defeated UD Minj, the sitting Congress MLA, by 25,541 votes.