Chhattisgarh: Suspense over new CM may end soon as BJP meets in Raipur

A key meeting of the BJP's 54 newly elected MLAs in Chhattisgarh will be held in Raipur on Sunday to pick the legislative party leader, ending the speculations over who will be the next chief minister.

The BJP contested the recent assembly polls without declaring any CM face.

"The BJP's legislative party meeting will take place on Sunday (10 December)," BJP state unit president Arun Sao told the media on Saturday, 9 December. "The party's three observers, Union ministers Arjun Munda and Sarbananda Sonowal and party general secretary Dushyant Kumar Gautam, will be present."

BJP's Chhattisgarh in-charge Om Mathur, Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party co-in-charge for the state Nitin Nabin will also attend, he added.

Mathur, who had already arrived in Raipur on Saturday evening, said, "Our party's observers are coming and we are waiting for the decision they take (at the meeting on Sunday)." He said in response to the query that there was no 'formula' for electing the chief minister. "There is a system set by the BJP's parliamentary board, which will be followed," he said.

In the recently held state assembly elections, the BJP won 54 of the 90 seats (39 more than their count in 2018) and the Congress 35 (33 less than their 2018 count). The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) managed to win one seat.

In the 2018 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP won 9 out of the total 11 seats in the state, while the Indian National Congress bagged only two constituencies. Given the swingabout in the assembly elections, the BJP leaders are confident of a good showing for 2024 as well.

As such, Mathur appreciated BJP workers and leaders in Chhattisgarh for their efforts in clinching a 'historic win' in the assembly polls.

It is speculated that the BJP may go for an OBC or a tribal chief minister if it doesn't pick party stalwart Raman Singh, who has served as chief minister thrice, from 2003 to 2018.

Other contenders include former Union minister Vishnu Deo; Renuka Singh, who resigned as Union minister after being elected as an MLA; former state ministers Ramvichar Netam and Lata Usendi; and MP Gomti Sai from the tribal community.

State BJP chief Arun Sao, who also resigned as an MP after being elected as an MLA, and bureaucrat-turned-politician O.P. Choudhary, both from Other Backward Classes (OBC), are also among the potential candidates.

Based on PTI inputs