Chhattisgarh | Sarpanch to CM, remarkable journey of Vishnu Deo Sai

Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Chhattisgarh, will be the chief minister of the state after being elected the leader of the BJP’s legislature party in Raipur on December 10.

The news is not entirely surprising. Addressing a rally in Kunkuri constituency last month, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had urged voters to elect Sai, saying he would become a “big man” if the BJP won the elections.

The BJP won 54 seats in the 90-member Assembly; the Congress was reduced to 35 seats from the 68 it won in 2018. The BJP, which had suffered a huge setback in tribal-dominated seats in 2018, won 17 of the 29 seats reserved for Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates this time. It won all 14 Assembly segments in the tribal-dominated Surguja region and eight of the 12 seats in another Adivasi belt, Bastar.

The BJP’s comprehensive win in the two tribal turfs contributed to its resounding victory in the elections. Hence, when it came to filling the chief minister's seat, Sai held an obvious edge.

A dependable face

Sai started his political career as a village sarpanch and rose to become a Union Minister and multiple-time Lok Sabha member besides getting important organisational roles. Despite inheriting a rich political legacy of his family, the 59-year-old tribal leader is known for his humility, down-to-earth nature, dedication to work, and determination to achieve goals.

The MLA from Jashpur district in Surguja region fits in the BJP’s scheme of things since Adivasis account for nearly 32 per cent of the state’s population and are the second most dominant social group after OBCs.

He has headed the BJP’s Chhattisgarh unit thrice, displaying the central leadership’s faith in his organisational skills. He rose through the ranks and became a member of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first Council of Ministers in 2014.

Politics in blood

Though he hails from a farming family from village Bagia in the tribal-dominated Jashpur district, politics runs in the blood of the BJP leader. His grandfather, the late Budhnath Sai, was a nominated MLA from 1947 to 1952. His uncle (father's elder brother), the late Narhari Prasad Sai, was a member of the Jan Sangh and served as a two-term MLA, was an MP from 1977 to 79, and served as a Minister of State in the Janata Party government.

Another elder brother of his father, the late Kedarnath Sai, was also a Jan Sangh member and served as MLA from Tapkara (1967-72).

Vishnu Deo Sai studied in a government school in Kunkuri and went to Ambikapur for graduation but quit studies midway and returned to his village in 1988. In 1989, he was elected as a “panch” of Bagia village panchayat and became the sarpanch unopposed the next year. It is said that BJP stalwart, the late Dilip Singh Judev, urged him to enter electoral politics in 1990.

The same year, Sai was elected an MLA for the first time on a BJP ticket from Tapkara (Jashpur district) in undivided Madhya Pradesh. He retained the seat in 1993.

Years of setback

In 1998, he lost from the adjoining Pathalgaon seat. Later, he was elected as MP from Raigarh four times in a row: 1999, 2004, 2009, and 2014. Though the BJP fielded him in the 2003 and 2008 Assembly elections from Pathalgaon in Chhattisgarh, which was born in November 2000, he lost on both occasions.

After the BJP formed its government at the Centre in 2014 under the leadership of Modi, Sai was made a Minister of State for Steel and Mines. He was among 10 sitting BJP MPs in Chhattisgarh who were denied ticket for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The tribal politician served as the BJP’s Chhattisgarh chief from 2006 to 2010 and again from January to August 2014. After the BJP lost power in the state in 2018, he was again given the responsibility to lead the party in Chhattisgarh in 2020. He was replaced by Arun Sao, an OBC leader, in 2022, just a year ahead of the Assembly ballot.

In November this year, Sai was named a member of the BJP national executive. He was fielded from Kunkuri (Jashpur district) where he defeated Congress’s sitting MLA, UD Minj, by 25,541 votes.

Now in CM post, Sai has two immediate jobs on hand. One, of course, is to steer the tribal state to a better future. The other is to secure the Lok Sabha seats in it for the BJP in the 2024 general election.