Vishnu Deo Sai is set to take oath as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh today

Vishnu Deo Sai is set to take oath as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh today, December 13. The CM-designate will take oath at Science College Ground in Raipur at 3.30 pm, as reported by news agency ANI. 

Sai will take oath as CM along with his council of ministers in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP National President JP Nadda and other senior party leaders will be joining the swearing-in ceremony, informed BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sharma on Tuesday, news agency ANI reported.  

CM-elect Sai has invited outgoing Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, former State Deputy Chief Minister TS Singh Deo, and President of the Pradesh Congress Committee Deepak Baij to the swearing-in ceremony.

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.

He served as the state president of the party for Chhattisgarh from  2020 until 2022. He was the Union Minister of State for Mines and 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 he became the sarpanch unopposed.
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.

(With inputs from ANI)