A Lok Sabha MP, Sao had replaced Sai as the state BJP chief in 2022. He had aggressively attacked the erstwhile ruling Congress, alleging that the party was behind the murder of some BJP workers, who were killed by Naxals. He had raised the issue in the Lok Sabha too.

Born and raised in Mungeli, Sao followed the footsteps of his father, senior RSS leader Abhyram Sao, into the Sangh. He is a lawyer by profession and has also served as the deputy advocate general in the Chhattisgarh High Court.

Sao gradually rose through the BJP ranks. Despite holding a senior position in the ABVP, he continued to work as a booth-level party worker. He was later appointed as the deputy chief of the BJP’s youth wing BJYM in the state.

He made his electoral debut in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Bilaspur and trumped his nearest rival, the Congress’s Atal Srivastava, by over 1.4 lakh votes.

In the recent Assembly elections, Sao was among the four MPs fielded by the BJP and won from Lormi, defeating Thaneshvar Sahu of the Congress by over 45,000 votes.

According to his election affidavit, he has no criminal cases against him and has assets worth Rs 1.6 crore.