Village panch to CM, Sai scripts new chapter in Chhattisgarh
Aditi Tandon
New Delhi, December 10
The signals of Vishnu Deo Sai’s rise in Chhattisgarh BJP came during the election campaign in the state when Union Home Minister Amit Shah, at a rally in Kunkuri, promised to make this party candidate a “big man” should he be elected.
Shah and BJP kept their promise on Sunday with Sai, who started his public life in 1989 as a panch of Bagia village in Kunkuri’s Kansabel area, rising to the top position of state Chief Minister.
Deep roots in rss
- Vishnu Deo Sai is a former four-term Lok Sabha MP (from Raigarh), two-term state chief of the BJP
- He also served as Minister of State for Steel and Mines during the first term of PM Narendra Modi
- BJP sources say the CM-elect has deep roots in the RSS
In 1990, Sai was elected Bagia sarpanch unopposed, and later under the tutelage of then BJP veteran Dilip Singh Judev, he became an MLA from Tapkara in undivided Madhya Pradesh’s Jashpur. In his 33-year-long political career, Sai suffered some electoral setbacks — losing MLA elections in Pathalgaon in 1998 and again in 2003 and 2008 — but largely climbed up the organisational ladder of the BJP.
He is a former four-term Lok Sabha MP (from Raigarh), two-term state chief of the BJP, served as minister of state in the Council of Ministers that took oath in the first term of PM Narendra Modi.
He contested the 1999 Lok Sabha election and won from Raigarh, a segment he represented in the 2004, 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
A former two-term state chief of the BJP, Sai is known to have friends across factions and has the capacity to carry everyone along, a reason he was elected unanimously. Having been state chief, he knows the strengths and weaknesses of the party organisation and cadres and is expected to use his skills to deliver all 11 Lok Sabha seats in Chhattisgarh in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Importantly, though Sai hails from a family of farmers, he also inherits a rich political legacy with his grandfather, the late Budh Nath Sai, a nominated MLA from 1947 to 1952 and uncle Narhari Prasad Sai a former MLA and MP. The CM-elect, BJP sources say, has deep roots in the RSS, party’s ideological mentor, though he was among the 10 sitting MPs who were dropped from the 2019 LS contest to beat anti-incumbency. To offset this loss, Sai was made BJP national executive member this year on the eve of the state elections.
Sai will face an uphill task in 2024, besides fulfilling a range of poll promises the party made ahead of Assembly polls, including 21 quintal per acre paddy procurement at Rs 3,100 MSP, Rs 12,000 per annum to each married woman, 18 lakh houses for the poor among others.
Grandpa was mla
Though Sai hails from a family of farmers, his grandfather late Budhnath Sai was a nominated MLA from 1947 to 1952. His paternal uncle Narhari Prasad Sai served as a two-term MLA and an MP
