Arun Sao, Vijay Sharma to be Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Ministers, Raman Singh to be Speaker

BJP leaders Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma were on Sunday named as the new Deputy Chief Ministers of Chhattisgarh, hours after tribal leader Vishnu Deo Sai was named as the new Chief Minister of the state.

In another significant development, Raman Singh, who served as Chief Minister thrice from 2003 to 2018, will be the Speaker of the Chhattisgarh assembly.

Earlier in the day, the BJP named Vishnu Deo Sai, a tribal leader, as the new Chhattisgarh Chief Minister, ending a week-long speculation of who would take over the reins of the state.

In last month's assembly polls, the BJP trounced the Congress, winning 54 of the 90 seats. The Congress ended with just 35 seats, way short of the 68 seats it won in 2018. The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) managed to win one seat.

After the election results were announced on December 3, there were hectic parleys by the BJP over the finalisation of the chief ministerial face. The saffron party had announced a chief ministerial face prior to the assembly polls.

Outgoing Chief Minster and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday took a dig at the BJP for the delay in naming their Chief Minister.