The state of Chhattisgarh has bucked exit predictions with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) set to win the elections by a pretty huge margin over the Congress. The BJP won 56 seats in the state, while the Congress was left with just 33 seats.
This is the BJP’s biggest victory in the state since it was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. In the assembly elections first held in Chhattisgarh in 2003, the BJP won 50 seats and in subsequent polls in 2008 and 2018, then Chief Minister Raman Singh led the party to win 50 and 49 seats (41.04 percent votes) respectively and ruled the state for 15 years without interruption.
In 2018, the BJP suffered a massive defeat at the hands of the Congress and was reduced to 15 seats.
With the results almost official, it is time for the BJP to choose its candidate for the post of chief minister. Notably, the party has not appointed any leader from the party’s state unit as the face of the campaign, which now leaves everyone wondering, “Kaun Banega CM?”
We take a closer look at the state’s politics and bring you some of the probables who could sit on the chief minister’s chair very soon.
Raman Singh
Former chief minister of the state, Raman Singh is one of the leading contenders for the post of chief minister. During his time in power, the 71-year-old politician earned the nickname ‘Chaaur wale baba’ for giving cheap rice to the poor for Rs 2-3 per kg.
He is also known as a popular Hindu face, enjoying support from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and also enjoys popularity among upper caste voters in the state.
Contesting from his home turf of Rajnandgaon, he is also all set to score a huge victory in the constituency – he won by nearly 48,000 votes against his nearest challenger, Girish Dewangan of the Congress.
Earlier speaking about the BJP’s victory in the state, he was quoted as saying, “After crossing Chhattisgarh, I felt that people were fed up with the corruption of the Bhupesh government and a change was going to happen.”
“I knew people would dismiss Bhupesh (Baghel)’s ego. The results reflect the people’s confidence in Modi ji’s guarantee,” he added.
However, there is one obstacle to Singh’s likely return to power; he faces allegations of corruption, poor governance and involvement in the multi-crore Public Distribution System (PDS) scam.
Arun Sao
Arun Sao, 54, is also in the running for the post of chief minister. He started his political career as a volunteer for the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and served as district president of the BJP, joint state secretary and a member of the ABVP national working committee.
Contesting for the Lormi seat, Sao won the election against his nearest rival, Thaneshvar Sahu of the Congress, with 45,891 votes. Sao is also considered a close aide of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. He was instrumental in reviving the party in the state after the 2018 debacle.
Perhaps one of the biggest factors in his favor is that he is a known face in the OBC and that section of the population makes up about half of the state’s population.
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Vishnu Deo Sai
The tribal face of the BJP in the state is also a possible candidate for the CM post. Sai’s political career began when he was elected unopposed as Sarpanch of Bagia village.
Sai also won Kunkuri with a margin of 25,541 votes, making him a likely contender in the chief minister’s race. He served as president of the Chhattisgarh unit of the BJP three times, from 2006 to 2010, from 2014 to 2014 and from 2020 to 2022. He is known for his organizational skills and rapport with party workers.
He was also the former Union Minister of State for Steel and is the only state representative to take oath as a minister in the Modi administration.
OP Choudhary
Another name doing the rounds is OP Choudhary, a Chhattisgarh IAS officer of the 2005 batch who contested against Congress’ Prakash Shakrajeet Naik in Raigarh.
The young leader joined the BJP in 2018 after leaving the IAS after a 13-year career. The Quint reports that although he has not won any election till date, Choudary is popular and he is credited with establishing the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Education Town in the Maoist-affected Dantewada district. This great academic institution grew during his tenure as Dantewada District Magistrate between 2011 and 2013.
He is also credited with implementing several social programs in the state, such as ‘Nanhe Parindey’ program for education of slum children, ‘Narva, Garva, Ghurva, Bari’ program for resource conservation in water, forest and land, and the “Sanjivani” Program for health care of the rural population.
Renuka Singh
The current Minister of State for Tribal Affairs in the Modi government, Renuka Singh, is also considered to be the next chief minister of the state. She is also an influential leader within the tribal community.
With the contribution of agencies
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