BJP picks Vishnu Deo as next chief minister of Chhattisgarh

Raipur: BJP on Sunday named Former Union minister Vishnu Deo as the next chief minister of Chhattisgarh.

Vishnu Deo trumped Renuka Singh, who resigned as Union minister after being elected as an MLA, to become the chief minister.

Earlier, the speculation was Modi would go for a woman CM, perhaps, Renuka Singh who is also a tribal leader.

Other potential candidates for the CM post were former state ministers Ramvichar Netam and Lata Usendi, MP Gomti Sai, who won the assembly polls, State BJP chief Arun Sao, who too resigned as an MP after being elected as an MLA, and bureaucrat-turned-politician O P Choudhary, both from Other Backward Classes (OBC)

The decision was announced after a key meeting of the BJP’s newly-elected 54 MLAs in Chhattisgarh to pick the legislative party leader.

“The BJP’s legislative party meeting was attened by the party’s three observers – Union ministers Arjun Munda and Sarbananda Sonowal, and party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam.

BJP’s Chhattisgarh in-charge Om Mathur, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party co-incharge for the state Nitin Nabin were also present.

In the 2018 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 9 out of the total 11 seats in the state, while the Congress bagged only two constituencies.

In the recently-held state assembly elections, the BJP won 54 of the 90 seats and the Congress 35. The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) managed to win one seat.