BJP leader Vishnu Deo Sai took the oath of office as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh in a ceremony held in Raipur on Wednesday.
The ceremony witnessed the attendance of several key party leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Party President J. P. Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
In addition to Sai, BJP leaders Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma were also sworn in as Deputy Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh.
Sai was elected as the leader of the BJP Legislature Party in Raipur on Sunday during a meeting of the BJP’s newly-elected MLAs, which was conducted in the presence of central observers Arjun Munda, Sarbananda Sonowal, and Dushyant Kumar Gautam. The former Chhattisgarh BJP President secured victory in the Kunkuri assembly seat in the state, contributing to the BJP’s overall win of 54 out of the 90 seats.
Born on February 21, 1964, Sai hails from Bagiya village adjacent to Kansabel in the Kunkuri area of Chhattisgarh. A distinguished tribal leader in the state, he began his political journey as a panch from Bagiya in 1989 and was subsequently elected unopposed as sarpanch in 1990. The same year, he was elected as the MLA from the Tapkara assembly constituency. Furthering his political career, he was elected as the Member of Parliament from the Raigarh Lok Sabha constituency for the 13th & 14th Lok Sabha in 1999 and 2004.
Sai became the state president of the BJP in 2006. He continued to represent Raigarh constituency in the Lok Sabha elections of 2009 and 2014. Serving as the Union Minister of State for Steel, Mines, Labour, and Employment from 2014 to 2019, he once again took on the role of the state president of the BJP in 2020.