Newsmaker | New Chhattisgarh BJP chief Arun Sao: First-term MP & second-gen RSS man

The party hopes Arun Sao can end CM Bhupesh Baghel and Congress’s grip on OBC votes.

Arun Sao replaced tribal leader Vishnudeo Sai (58) at the helm of the state unit. (Photo: Facebook/Arun Sao)

A year before the Chhattisgarh Assembly elections, the BJP on Tuesday appointed Bilaspur MP Arun Sao (53) to counter the Other Backward Class (OBC) politics of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel who belongs to the OBC Sahu community. Sao replaced tribal leader Vishnudeo Sai (58) at the helm of the state unit.

OBCs account for almost 45 per cent of the state’s population and their support for the Congress ensured the party’s victory in the 2018 Assembly polls. At the time, Congress insiders said that Baghel was picked as CM ahead of his party rivals because of his stature as an OBC leader and a party leader pointed out that Chhattisgarh was “an OBC state and the election was swung on OBC votes coming to the Congress”. This stranglehold over the OBC vote base is what the BJP wants to challenge with Sao’s appointment.

Also Read | Chhattisgarhi pride & ‘localising’ deities: How Bhupesh Baghel has hemmed in BJP

Sao is the son of senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Abhayram Sao. He was born and raised in Mungeli and followed his father’s footsteps by becoming a Sangh worker. A lawyer by education, the BJP leader was actively involved with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the students’ organisation affiliated to the RSS, for years — both in the state and at the national level. In 1996, Sao started his BJP career with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. He practised as a lawyer at the Chhattisgarh High Court in Bilaspur and later worked in the advocate general’s office.

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Sao received the Lok Sabha ticket for the first time in 2019 and won from Bilaspur. According to party insiders, he is not the most popular but is known for his clean image. BJP workers see Sao’s links to the Sangh as a major reason for his promotion. Former state CM Raman Singh congratulated the first-term MP. “Heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to MP Shri Arun Sao ji on being appointed as the state president of Chhattisgarh BJP. With renewed energy and enthusiasm under your leadership, we all party workers will work with full dedication, and will make the lotus bloom again in Chhattisgarh,” he tweeted.

Sources in the party said Vishnudeo Sai was called to Delhi three days ago to discuss the future of his role. A tribal face of the BJP, Sai was elected to Parliament from undivided Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh for four terms in total. He has also served as the union minister of state for steel, mines, and labour employment.

Also Read | Mother Chhattisgarh: To corner BJP, Bhupesh Baghel revives a state icon

Since the formation of Chhattisgarh in 2000, the BJP mostly placed its faith in tribal leaders to take charge of the state unit. Tribal leaders such as Nandkumar Sai, Shivpratap Singh, Ramsevak Paikra and Vikram Usendi, apart from Sai, have served in the position. A couple of exceptions are the current Leader of the Opposition, Dharamlal Kaushik, and the late Tarachand Sahu, a former MP — both OBCs.

State Congress’s communication wing chief Sushil Anand Shukla said the BJP’s decision to remove Sai on International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples, which was observed on Tuesday, reflected the “anti-Adivasi thinking of the BJP”.

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Beleaguered BJP

Following a massive defeat in the last Assembly election, the state BJP got bogged down with internal factionalism, and by-election defeats, including in Raman Singh’s turf, made the party introspect and push for a leadership change. The party has also failed to formulate a response to Baghel’s strategy of using Chhattisgarhi identity politics and Hindu religious iconography to consolidate the Congress’s position.

“Even though the party has maintained that it will contest the election in 2023 without a face, the existing faces had to be changed as they were not connecting with the masses anymore. If the party has to make a comeback, this is one of the few changes that was imminent,” said a senior BJP leader.