Sudesh Rai

Some Lesser Known Facts About Sudesh Rai

• Before being elected as MLA from Sehore, he served as President of Kalchuri Samaj Sehore.

  

• Ahead of the 2018 Madhya Pradesh assembly elections, Sudesh Rai made headlines for having more assets and property than Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan.  While Chauhan had total assets of around Rs 7.6 crore, Rai had assets of around Rs 67. 5 crore. He was ranked at number 9 among the richest 10 MLAs of MP.

  

• In August 2023, he caught the public attention with his statement that “Sehore was once a terrorist area.” He gave the controversial remark during a BJP workers’ conference in Sehore. Congress leader and actor Vikram Mastal criticized Rai’s statement via a tweet and said that Sehore was a city of martyrs and should not be linked to terrorism. In the tweet, Mastal recalled that 356 revolutionaries from Sehore sacrificed their lives for independence. ^[3]ABP News

• Similarly, AAP also criticized Rai for the statement and demanded an apology from him. AAP leader Ramakant Patel said that the BJP had become habitual of insulting martyrs. ^[4]ABP News

  

• In March 2024, Bhopal MP Pragya Thakur accused Sudesh Rai of running an illegal liquor shop in front of a school in Khajuriya Kalan village, Sehore. A video went viral on the internet in which she was seen breaking the lock of the shop. In the video, she expressed concern over the safety of women and girls and demanded Rai’s removal from the MLA’s post. Rai dismissed the allegation saying it was baseless. Later, it was discovered that the liquor shop belonged to a person named Mahesh Gaur. ^[5]The Print

• Sudesh Rai owns a revolver worth Rs 1 lakh and a 315 rifle worth Rs 60,000.