1st Cabinet Meeting Of Vishnu Deo Sai-Led Government In Chhattisgarh Today

The first cabinet meeting of the newly-formed Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Chhattisgarh will take place today, Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai said.

Mr Sai was sworn in as chief minister on Wednesday, while two party MLAs Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma took oath as deputy chief ministers.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Ramdas Athawale, BJP president J P Nadda, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and party leaders from other states attended the swearing-in ceremony that saw a massive gathering of around 50,000 people.

The event was held at the Science College ground.

After the ceremony, Mr Sai and his two deputies went to the Mantralaya and took charge after performing rituals. The three held talks with state chief secretary Amitabh Jain and Director General of Police Ashok Juneja there.

"Today I, Sao ji and Sharma ji took oath. We are fortunate that PM Modi, home minister Amit Shah ji, national president Nadda ji, several Union ministers, chief ministers of several states and other dignitaries attended the swearing-in ceremony. We would like to express our gratitude to them for making the event a success," the new CM said.

"...Today, no decisions have been taken. The cabinet meeting will be held on Thursday. An introductory programme with secretaries of all departments will also be held tomorrow. Subsequently a press briefing will be done," he said.

Asked about the decisions which could be taken on priority basis in the cabinet, Mr Sai said, "We will discuss it in the cabinet. However, you all know the 'Modi ki guarantees' the promises made in our poll manifesto. Discussion will be held on it in the cabinet and priorities will be fixed." After being elected as the leader of BJP legislative party on Sunday, Mr Sai had said that sanctioning 18 lakh houses to the beneficiaries of PM Awas Yojana will be the first work to be done in the state.

He had also said that on December 25, the birth anniversary of former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee who was founder of Chhattisgarh state, bonus against paddy procurement for two years which was pending during the previous BJP government (2013-2018) will be given to farmers (who had then sold their paddy).

All the guarantees of Modi Ji, our poll promises, will be fulfilled in the next five years, he had said.