Veteran Tribal Leader Nand Kumar Sai Returns to BJP Without Fanfare, Calls for Strong Opposition

Raipur
Senior tribal leader from Chhattisgarh, Nand Kumar Sai, has rejoined the BJP. The occasion was marked by a simple process, with no grand event or presence of top leaders. Sai rejoined the party by giving a missed call to the membership campaign number as part of the ongoing membership drive.
Speaking to the media, Sai emphasized the importance of having a strong opposition in a democracy. He mentioned that since many people were still joining the party, he decided to renew his membership with the BJP. He highlighted his long association with the party, recalling his tenure as president during the undivided Madhya Pradesh era. He also mentioned that when Kalyan Singh was the president of UP, Narendra Modi was their in-charge, and Sai had contributed significantly to the growth of the party in various positions and locations.
Sai clarified that no one had approached him to join Congress; he did so on his own in 2023. At that time, the BJP had introduced a policy that sidelined leaders over 60 years old. He noted that he was not the only one who left; around ten leaders from Madhya Pradesh also exited the party due to this policy. He expressed that the party’s decision to reduce the importance of senior leaders was wrong.
He further explained that his decision to leave the BJP was due to the diminishing role of senior leaders within the party. As for his departure from Congress, he stated that the reasons were different, but he believed that a democracy cannot function properly with just one strong party, emphasizing the need for a robust opposition to keep the country on track.
Regarding political candidates, Sai remarked that political parties make their decisions based on the party’s line, direction, and ideology. The circumstances at that time led him to join Congress. Addressing the question of whether he had aspired to become the Chief Minister, Sai mentioned that he was the one who initially demanded a tribal Chief Minister. However, he clarified that his focus was on working for the party, not on becoming the Chief Minister. He acknowledged that the tribal leaders who were appointed as Chief Ministers were doing a commendable job.
Sai also stated that it would be up to the party to decide what his role and responsibilities would be upon his return to the BJP.
Nand Kumar Sai, a prominent tribal figure of the BJP from northern Chhattisgarh, was first elected as an MLA from Tapkara (now in Jashpur district) in Madhya Pradesh in 1977 as a Janata Party candidate. In 1980, he was elected as the head of the BJP’s Raigarh district unit, and in 1985, he was re-elected as a BJP MLA from Tapkara.

He served as a Member of Parliament from Raigarh in 1989, 1996, and 2004, and as a Rajya Sabha member in 2009 and 2010. Sai was the Chhattisgarh BJP president from 2003-05 and the Madhya Pradesh BJP chief from 1997-2000. After Chhattisgarh was carved out of Madhya Pradesh in November 2000, he became the first Leader of the Opposition in the Chhattisgarh Assembly. In 2017, Sai was appointed as the Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST).

On April 30, 2023, Sai resigned from the BJP, and the following day, on May 1, 2023, he joined Congress in the presence of then-Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. However, the party did not grant him a ticket to contest the elections. Following Congress’s defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections, Sai resigned from Congress on December 20, 2023, and rejoined the BJP on September 3, 2024.