New Delhi: After appointing Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal leader, as chief minister, the BJP in Chhattisgarh Thursday selected Kiran Singh Deo from the general category as the president of the party’s state unit, replacing Arun Sao.
Earlier, as part of its caste balancing strategy, Sao of the OBC community was named as one of the deputy CMs, given the 42 percent OBC population in the state. A former MP from Bilaspur, Sao was instrumental in the party’s performance in the OBC belt.
Meanwhile, first-time MLA Vijay Sharma, a Brahmin, was appointed as the other deputy. By doing this, the party has reached out to the upper castes along with OBCs and Adivasis.
Raman Singh, a Rajput leader, was selected as the speaker.
In the assembly elections concluded earlier this month, Kiran Singh Deo won from Jagdalpur seat, beating Jateen Jaiswal of the Congress.
BJP’s Bastar district president Roop Singh Mandavi told the print, “Kiran Singh Deo is basically an organisational man who rose within the ranks. Since Bastar is a crucial region for the BJP, the party has picked a CM and state president both from the region.”
In these elections, the BJP made significant gains in the tribal belts, Bastar and Surguja, that helped it make a comeback in the state. Now, it has strategically chosen its CM from Sarguja, and the state president from Bastar.
In Chhattisgarh, the general category accounts for 8 percent of the population, say sources. Of this, Rajputs constitute only 2.5 percent. The BJP’s decision to appoint a general category state unit president serves as a way to reward the Bastar region, which was pivotal in securing the party’s win in the state.
Speaking to ThePrint, a Chhattisgarh BJP functionary said, “In the past, the party has invested in the state by picking tribal leadership when CM was from the general category. When Raman Singh was CM, the BJP had picked a tribal state president. Now that the CM is from the tribal community, the state president has been chosen from the general category, OBC has been given a chance by bringing Arun Sao or Dharmpal Kaushik to counter (former CM) Bhupesh Baghel. Picking a state president from the general caste was a part of the party’s caste balancing strategy. The party has picked a state president from the general caste after 20 years.”
Also read: BJP’s social engineering in Chhattisgarh: Tribal CM with OBC & Brahmin deputies
Ascent of Kiran Singh Deo
Kiran Singh Deo, who belongs to a zamindar family from Jagdalpur, began his political career with the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the BJP’s youth wing, in Bastar, and eventually became the district president of the party in 2002 under the leadership of Lakhiram Agrawal, the then state BJP president.
Speaking to ThePrint, Santosh Bafna, former Jagdalpur MLA, claimed he had played an instrumental part in Kiran Singh Deo’s early political journey by pushing him to meet Saudan Singh, who was in-charge of Chhattisgarh unit during Raman Singh’s chief ministership.
Former BJP MLA Sharad Awasthi told ThePrint that during his tenure as district president of Bastar unit between 1996 and 2002, he had inducted Kiran Singh Deo as vice-president of the BJYM. Deo had later been given charge as district president of the party and, in 2009, as mayor of Jagdalapur after he won the mayoral polls with a big margin. This was during the time that Raman Singh was CM. His relationship with Raman Singh has aided his rise within the party.
In 2014, Kiran Singh Deo was appointed as the state BJP secretary. He has also served as general secretary under Vishnu Deo Sai during his 2020-2022 tenure as Chhattisgarh BJP president.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: 4 reasons Bhupesh Baghel lost Chhattisgarh. His Hinduism outreach isn’t one of them