Vishnu Deo Sai seeks blessings at Jagannath Temple before taking oath as Chhattisgarh CM

RAIPUR: Ahead of the swearing-in ceremony, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister-designate Vishnu Deo Sai on Wednesday offered prayers at Jagannath Temple in Raipur. Chhattisgarh Chief Minister-designate and his council of ministers will be taking oaths today in Raipur. In the Jagannath temple, he conducted ritualistic worship of Lord Jagannath, Mata Subhadra, and Balaram Ji. Concurrently, Purandar Mishra, a Member of the Legislative Assembly from North Raipur, was in attendance.

"Today, I will be taking the oath as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh. I offered prayers here at Jagannath temple and took blessings," Vishnu Deo Sai told ANI.

As per the ongoing discussions, 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, a BJP leader said.

"Tomorrow is the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief Minister and based on the discussions over it, PM Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda, multiple union ministers, multiple BJP state presidents and multiple BJP state chief ministers are all coming," said BJP leader Vijay Kumar Sharma.

Meanwhile, Vishnu Deo Sai, over a telephonic call on Tuesday, invited former Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel, former Deputy CM TS Singh Deo and Pradesh Congress Committee President Deepak Baij to attend the swearing-in ceremony, organised at the Science College grounds in Raipur.

All political officials and dignitaries were also invited by the state government.

Former Chhattisgarh CM and BJP leader Raman Singh announced the name of Vishnu Deo Sai as the next CM of Chhattisgarh during the BJP legislature meeting in Raipur on Sunday.

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.