Vishnu Singh Deo takes oath as Chhattisgarh CM; PM Modi, Amit Shah present

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Vishnu Singh Deo on Wednesday took as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, in the presence of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders, in Raipur. BJP leaders Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma also took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh.

The oath-taking ceremony took place in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president JP Nadda, Home Minister Amit Shah, chief ministers of other states, Union ministers, senior BJP leaders from other states, eminent personalities, in Raipur.

Sai's name was announced as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on December 10 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. 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.

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Vishnu Deo Sai started his political career as a village sarpanch. In 1989, he was elected as a 'panch' of Bagia village panchayat and next year became the sarpanch unopposed. He won four consecutive Lok Sabha elections from the Raigarh constituency from 1999 to 2014.

Sai, a prominent tribal face of the BJP, was named as the new Chhattisgarh Chief Minister by the party, ending a week-long suspense. The BJP had registered a stunning victory over the Congress in last month's assembly polls.

The party won 17 of the 29 constituencies reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), which propelled it to come to power, dislodging the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government.

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