Raipur: First time MLA Kiran Singh Deo, member of erstwhile royal family of Sukma in Bastar in Chhattisgarh, was on Thursday appointed president of state unit of BJP.
The 61-year-old Mr Deo is the first saffron leader from the tribal-dominated Bastar to head the party in Chhattisgarh.
He replaced Arun Sao who was made deputy chief minister in Vishnu Deo Sai government, in the post.
Mr Deo is the second BJP leader after former chief minister Dr Raman Singh to head the party in Chhattisgarh, carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000.
His predecessors hailed either from tribal communities or OBC.
“The BJP leadership has decided to appoint a leader from general category to head the party in Chhattisgarh since the chief minister (Vishnu Deo Sai) hails from a tribal community.
Besides, the BJP leadership has chosen a leader from Bastar to head the party in the state since BJP had put up a good show in the recently held Assembly polls in the tribal regions of Bastar and Surguja by security 21 out of 26 seats in the belt”, a senior BJP functionary told this newspaper here, unwilling to be quoted.
The BJP has also sought to maintain regional balance by appointing a leader south Chhattisgarh (Bastar) to head the party, he added.
While the chief minister Mr Sai hailed from the north Chhattisgarh region of Surguja, the two deputy chief ministers, Arun Sai and Vijay Sharma, hailed from the Central and western regions of the state respectively.
The new state BJP president Mr Deo started his political career in the youth wing of BJP. He was general secretary of the state party for a long time. He was elected as mayor of Jagdalpur Municipal Corporation in Bastar in 2009.
