RAIPUR: Tribal leader and former Union Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday took oath as Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh at an event in Raipur which was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, senior BJP leaders and chief ministers of other states.
Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan administered the oath of office to him at the Science College grounds in Raipur.
Meanwhile, Vijay Sharma and Arun Sao also took oaths as the Deputy Chief Ministers of the state.
#WATCH | BJP leader Vishnu Deo Sai takes oath as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, in the presence of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders, in Raipur pic.twitter.com/p30zAmgxgq
— ANI (@ANI) December 13, 2023
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and other senior party leaders joined the swearing-in ceremony. Moreover, former Chattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel was also present during the swearing-in ceremony.
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 the 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.
Of the 90 assembly constituencies in Chhattisgarh, the BJP bagged 54 while the Congress won 35. (ANI)