Vishnu Deo Sai gets reward for giving 10 seats as Chhattisgarh BJP chief

Vishnu Deo Sai, 50, would be only Member of Parliament from Chhattisgarh to get a place in Narendra Modi cabinet

Morning tea had never been as sweet for the four-time Member of Parliament from Raigarh Vishnu Deo Sai as was today. The message for getting ministry was delivered when he was having a sip Monday morning.

The caller was Narendra Modi, who asked Sai to join them over breakfast in Gujarat Bhawan. “Sai was taken aback to get a direct call from Modi who informed him that he would be in his cabinet,” an associate of Sai said. The MP was in his 70 North Avenue house.

Vishnu Deo Sai, 50, would be the only Member of Parliament from Chhattisgarh to get a place in Narendra Modi cabinet. The party had bagged 10 out of 11 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Interestingly, Sai was BJP State President in 2009 when BJP won 10 out of 11 seats in Chhattisgarh.

And when the figure was retained in 2014, Sai was again heading the party’s state unit. He took over as BJP Chhattisgarh President for the second term in November after then party chief Ramsevak Paikra got elected to the state legislative assembly and become home minister.

Born to a farmer’s family in Bagia village of Jashpur district, Sai’s political career started in the village where he was elected sarpanch unopposed. Former union minister late Dilip Singh Judeo explored his potential and move his name to contest the assembly poll from Tapkara (a constituency deleted now) in 1990.

“When he contested the first elections, he sold a part of his property,” recalled a close associate of Sai in Jashpur. He then never looked back and become the Member of Parliament in 1999 and continued to hold the seat till now.

A soft spoken, Sai never dreamt high in politics. Despite winning the election with record votes of over 220,000, he neither expressed his willingness nor canvassed for a cabinet berth in Modi government. A tea time call made the difference.