In Chattisgarh, BJP first-time MLA’s second innings as party chief: Who is Kiran Singh Deo

On Friday, Deo assumed his post again, which he will hold for the next three years.

The significance of the state BJP chief’s position in Chhattisgarh could be gauged from the point that two former state party presidents — Raman Singh and Vishnu Deo Sai — went on to become the CM.

Vinod Tawde, BJP national general secretary, declared Deo as the Chhattisgarh party president in the presence of state leaders including CM Sai at the state party headquarters in Raipur.

Tawde said, “Yesterday (Thursday) from 5 pm to 7 pm, we received three nominations for the post of state president and I thought we will have different names. But all three names were Kiran Singh Deo ji.”

Tawde complimented Deo for starting off as a BJP youth leader who gradually rose to the rank of state president.

In his speech, where he expressed gratitude for getting a second term, Deo said, “I thank the party who spotted a small person like me from Bastar and made him the state president following which the Lok Sabha elections and Raipur bypoll took place”.

Deo said: “A party membership drive took place (during my tenure). Our team worked hard and increased the number of party members from 30 lakh (in 2024) to over 60 lakh… It was not an easy job. Even in the tribal regions of Bastar and Sarguja, we met our targets.”

With the BJP winning eight of the 12 seats in Bastar in the 2023 Assembly elections — a turnaround from the previous polls when the Congress had swept the region —- it was in the BJP’s interest to keep a Bastar leader as the state party chief.

Deo is also close to state party stalwart and ex-CM Raman Singh, who was said to have played a key role in promoting him in the party ranks.

Deo’s journey

Deo began his political journey in 1998 as the deputy chief of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Jagdalpur. He remained the chief of the BJP Yuva Morcha in Jagdalpur from 2002 to 2005. In the next three years, he served as the Pradesh Mantri for BJP.

Subsequently, between 2009 and 2014, he served as a state BJP working committee member. Thereafter, he assumed the position of the Pradesh Mantri from 2015 to 2018.

Deo worked as the general secretary of the Chhattisgarh BJP from 2018 to 2022.

He first got a BJP ticket for the Assembly polls in 2023 from the Jagdalpur city (general) seat. This is Deo’s home turf, where he had served as the Jagdalpur Municipal Corporation mayor from 2014 to 2019.

Deo won his debut Assembly election with a margin of nearly 30,000 over sitting Congress MLA Jateen Jaiswal.