Arun Sao appointed Chhattisgarh BJP chief

By Partha Sarathi BeheraRAIPUR: Gearing up for the next year’s assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Arun Sao, Member of Parliament from Bilaspur, as the new state president of Chhattisgarh.The 53-year-old BJP leader, who belongs to the state’s sizeable OBC Sahu community, succeeds tribal leader and former union minister Vishnudeo Sai as the state party chief at the crucial time when assembly elections are scheduled to be held in November next year. Indications are that the opposition BJP is also contemplating other major changes in its organisational setup in the next couple of weeks, including the appointment of a new leader of the opposition in the assembly and a state-level campaign committee as part of preparations for the next assembly elections. The buzz in opposition circles is that former minister Ajay Chandrakar might become the leader of the opposition in the coming days.The appointment of a leader from the OBC Sahu community as state party chief is seen in political circles as an attempt to counter the aggressive OBC politics being promoted during the Congress regime under the leadership of chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.There has been a big change in the post of state BJP president of Chhattisgarh. Now the new president of the state BJP will be Arun Sao. BJP national President J P Nadda has issued an order regarding the removal of Sai from the post on Tuesday and it, coincidentally, came on the occasion of World Tribal Day.Party sources said that Sai was completing three years of his tenure as state president within a month or two.It may be mentioned that Sai was called to Delhi some three days ago giving an indication of a change in the leadership of the Chhattisgarh BJP which will now fight the 2023 election under the leadership of Sao.Sao was born on November 25, 1968, in Lohadiya village of Mungeli district. He completed B.Com from SNG College Mungeli and LLB from Bilaspur.In the 80s, Sao was appointed as ABVP mandal president and the election in charge of the Jarhagaon assembly constituency from 1977 to 2000.Sao served as ABVP Mungeli tehsil president from 1990 to 1995 and became district convener, state co-secretary, and national working committee member. He also served as Sahu Samaj Youth Wing’s tehsil secretary, district president, and co-convener of Chhattisgarh Sahu Samaj.Sao started his political career in BJP from the party's Yuva Morcha under the guidance of former minister Amar Agrawal. He held various positions in the BJP from 1996 to 2005. In 1998, he contested elections from Dashrangpur as a BJP candidate for the post of Janpad Panchayat member. In 2001, Sao practiced in the high court and served as a panel lawyer for the Chhattisgarh government in 2004 and for the government from 2005 to 2013 and deputy advocate general of Chhattisgarh High court from 2013 to 2018.