The Vishnu Deo Sai-led new cabinet in Chhattisgarh will be sworn in on December 13 at the Science College ground in Raipur. There are speculations that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, apart from other senior leaders and BJP chief ministers of other states, might attend the oath-taking ceremony.
Two deputy chief ministers and about 10 ministers are likely to take oath with Sai during the ceremony. Party sources confirmed to THE WEEK that two deputy chief ministers are likely to be BJP state president Arun Sao and state general secretary Vijay Sharma. Their names are yet to be officially announced for the posts.
Both Sao and Sharma are first-time MLAs, though Sao was a Member of Parliament till he resigned last week after being elected to the assembly from Lormi constituency.
Sao is an OBC leader and his appointment is likely to strike the balance between tribal and OBC constituents as CM Sai belongs to the tribal category.
The choice of Sharma – apparently to give representation to the general category – is interesting as he carries an image of firebrand Hindutva leader who is an accused in a 2021 communal riots case in Kawardha, a constituency he was elected from during the recent polls. Sharma defeated powerful minister Mohammad Akbar who had been representing the seat four times, by around 40,000 votes.
In Sai, Sao and Sharma, the BJP is seeking to strike an electoral balance ahead of the crucial Lok Sabha polls.
The BJP had focused on tribal communities in the Hindi heartland states that went to polls in November – especially in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh where tribals are a decisive factor. The efforts gave good results with BJP winning a majority of tribal reserved seats as well as seats with tribal influence in both the states. In MP it won 24 of the 47 ST seats – up 9 seats from 15 won in 2018; while in Chhattisgarh it won 17 of the 29 ST reserved seats – a huge improvement from 3 seats in 2018.
OBC is the biggest population chunk in the state and has always sided with the BJP, but formal prestigious representation to the category is crucial ahead of the Lok Sabha polls and Sao is likely to fill that gap apart from ministers from the category.
Another ammunition used by the BJP during the Chhattisgarh polls was communal polarisation and giving tickets to Sharma and Ishwar Sahu – father of a youth killed in communal riots—against two powerful former ministers (Sahu defeated Ravindra Chaubey who won Saja seat six times) was a key indicator in this respect.
The BJP also played up the issue of tribals being converted to Christianity in the state.
The big wins of Sharma and Sahu in the polls have hinted that keeping hot the communal card might help the saffron party in Lok Sabha polls too and therefore the party has decided to elevate Sharma to the deputy CM post, political watchers feel.
Raman Singh for speaker
In a surprise move, the BJP has decided to make former chief minister Raman Singh the speaker of the new assembly, though the formality will be completed through election process after the house starts functioning. Singh was among front-runners for the CM post and there had been speculations that if not CM, the three-time CM will be offered a governor post. But sources say that Singh had already refused a similar offer earlier. He has, however, accepted to be the Speaker and confirmed the move of the party to the media.
Likely ministers in Sai cabinet
Apart from Sao and Sharma the likely names in the Sai cabinet include senior tribal leader Ramvichar Netam, former union minister Renuka Singh, former minister Kedar Kashyap, bureaucrat-turned-politician O.P. Chaudhary, former ministers Rajesh Munat, Brijmohan Agrawal, Amar Agrawal, Ajay Chandrakar, Lata Usendi, Dayaldas Baghel, Punnulal Mohle, Bhaiyyalal Rajwade and first time MLA Khushwant Saheb.
