Nand Kumar Sai rejoins BJP
Raipur | Correspondent: Tribal leader Nand Kumar Sai, who recently switched from the BJP to the Congress, has now rejoined his original party.
On Tuesday, Sai officially took membership at the BJP office located at the Kushabhau Thackeray campus.
In May 2023, Nand Kumar Sai had left the BJP to join the Congress party, surprising many due to his long-standing association with Jan Sangh and BJP.
Sai, a five-time MP, three-time MLA, and former BJP president in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, had been linked with Jan Sangh, Janata Party, and BJP for over 50 years.
After joining Congress, Sai had remarked that the party led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani had changed significantly. He emphasized that the party itself was less important than working for the common people, stating that collaborative efforts are crucial for the betterment of Chhattisgarh.
What did Vishnudev Sai say then?
After Nand Kumar Sai joined Congress last year, BJP MP and former state president Vishnudev Sai remarked, “We continue to hold our senior leader in high regard.The BJP is his home, and he will always be welcome here. Our doors remain open to him.”
Vishnudev Sai expressed disbelief that a respected leader like Sai could be swayed by Congress, suggesting concerns that he might be under undue pressure or blackmail.
He called for an investigation into whether such pressures influenced Sai’s decision, while expressing hope that the BJP might still win him back.
However, the attempt to persuade him then failed.
Nand Kumar Sai political journey
After the Emergency in 1977, Nand Kumar Sai contested the assembly elections in undivided Madhya Pradesh from the Tapkara seat on a Janata Party ticket and won.
In 1985, he was re-elected as an MLA and appointed Deputy Leader of the BJP Legislative Party in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
He made his first entry into Parliament in 1989 by winning the Lok Sabha elections. When he returned to Parliament in 1996, he was appointed coordinator of the BJP parliamentary party.
In 1997, Sai was named President of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh, a role he took on while Narendra Modi was in charge of the state.
In 1998, he was elected MLA again, and with the formation of Chhattisgarh as a separate state in 2000, he became the Leader of the Opposition in the new Assembly.
He secured his third Lok Sabha term in 2004. In 2009 and 2010, Sai served as a Rajya Sabha member, and in 2017, he was appointed chairman of the National Scheduled Tribes Commission.
