Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai took oath on Wednesday (File)
Newly-inducted Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Thursday chaired his first cabinet meeting of the newly-formed BJP government in which he said that the first task will be to provide 18 lakh houses to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
"As mentioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even myself during the election campaigning, the first task of our government will be to provide 18 lakh houses to beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana," Mr Sai told news agency ANI.
Deputy chief ministers Arun Sao and Vijay Sharma were also present at the press conference.
Mr Sai took the oath of office and secrecy as the chief minister of Chhattisgarh in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
As per constitutional norms, Chhattisgarh, which has a 90-member assembly, can have a maximum of 13 ministers, including the chief minister hence, the BJP is yet to announce 10 cabinet ministers.
In the recently concluded state assembly elections, while the BJP won 54 of the 90 seats, the Congress, which had won 68 seats in 2018, was reduced to 35 seats. The Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP) managed to win one seat.
Vishnu Deo Sai's name was announced as the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh on Sunday afternoon after a key meeting of the BJP's newly-elected 54 MLAs in the state was held in Raipur. He won the Kunkuri Assembly seat with a total of 87,604 votes.
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