Chhattisgarh gets first tribal Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai. He is the former Chhattisgarh BJP president.

This means Sai will be the new chief minister of the state. The BJP had been in a huddle over the chief ministerial name since it scored a comfortable victory in Chhattisgarh, refuting exit polls which predicted a tough fight with the Congress.

According to official records, Chhattisgarh has about 7.5 percent of India's tribal population and tribal people form about 30 percent of the state's population. Of the 90 assembly seats in Chhattisgarh, there are 29 seats reserved for scheduled tribes.

Sai's name was being counted among the frontrunners, along with former chief minister Raman Singh. Sai had been the state president of the BJP from 2020 to 2022. 

He was the union minister of state for steel in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's first term. He was also the Lok Sabha member from the BJP representing Chhattisgarh's Raipur constituency. He is also a member of the BJP's national working committee. 

After the formation of the Congress government in 2018, when the BJP restructured its organisation, Vishnu Deo Sai was appointed as the state president of BJP. He is a member of the BJP's National Working Committee. In 2022, Arun Sao replaced Sai as the party's state unit chief. 

In the Chhattisgarh assembly elections, Sai won from the Kunkuri Tribal seat with a margin of over 25000 votes.