Meet Chhattisgarh's New Deputy Chief Minister Arun Sao: 5 Points

Vishnu Deo Sai will serve as the new Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, while Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma will be his two deputies in the state cabinet. Mr Sai took oath along with his cabinet colleagues at a ceremony in Raipur on Wednesday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP chief JP Nadda attended the swearing-in ceremony.

Arun Sao, a leader from the Other Backward Classes (OBC), is also the Chhattisgarh BJP president, while Vijay Sharma, a Brahmin, is the general secretary of the party’s Chhattisgarh state unit.

Raman Singh, who served as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh for 15 years, will be the Assembly Speaker.

Here are five key facts about Arun Sao:

1. In 2022, Arun Sao replaced Vishnu Deo Sai as the Chhattisgarh BJP chief. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, he defeated rival Congress candidate Atal Shrivastav by over a lakh votes.
2. Among the BJP’s tallest OBC leaders, Mr Sao reportedly played a key role in the party’s performance in the OBC belt. He contested the 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly election from Lormi seat and won by a margin of 45,891 votes.
3. During the recent assembly polls, Mr Sao was credited with aggressively campaigning for the party and targeting the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government in Chhattisgarh.
4. A lawyer by profession, Mr Sao started his career in politics as a member of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) in 1990.
5. Mr Sao rose through party ranks after serving as a booth-level worker of the BJP.