A tale of two captains, both ruing lost chance
NEW DELHI: It’s a classic case of a captain scoring a century despite his side losing and the opposing team registering a huge win but its skipper getting out for a duck.
The Him ac hal Pradesh electoral ground is no cricket pitch but the tale of victory and defeat is one that Congress’ chief minister Virbhad ra Sing hand B JP’ sP rem Kumar D hum al will surely identify with.
Winning and losing, the two leaders have probably realised, are but two side soft he same coin. While Congress leader Vi rb had ra Singh won his seat, his party lost the state. And, in a neat flip, the BJP wrested the state from the Congress but its chief ministerial candidate D hum al was trounced.
SIMILARFATE
Both are Th ak ur leaders, both are former chief ministers, both were hoping for another stint at leading the state. But the chief minister’s chair has evaded both this election.
While the BJP was poised to win 44 of 68 seats, the Congress was likely to get 21 seats.
Singh,a six-time chief minister, a scion of the Ramp ur-Busha hr royal family, and often called ‘rajaji’ for his royal lineage, registered a win from Ar ki despite the Congress receiving a drubbing.
D hum al, a two-time chief minister who belongs to a farmer family, lost fromSuja np ur to friendturned-foe Raj in der Ran a though his party won a decisive victory in the hill state.
Dhumal’s aide Ravinder Kumar Ra vi and his MP son A nu- rag Th ak ur’ sf at her-in-lawGu lab Sing hT ha ku ra lsolostt heir elections.
TROUBLE WITHIN
AsDhu mal and Singh slugged it out, both also faced multiple hurdles at the party level.
Battling graft cases and antiincumbency, 83-year-old Singh shouldered the entire party’s campaign as Congress president Rahul Gandhi focused most of his attention on Gujarat, party workers said. Party leaders like Anil Sharma, who was minister in Singh’s cabinet, quit the Con- gress just before the polls to join the BJP.
On the contrary, the BJP’s campaign was led by Prime Minister Na rend ra Mo di with a series of senior B JP leaders and central leaders canvassing for votes.
However, a soft-spoken Dhumal, 73, party insiders said, was upset over the party shifting him from his Hamirpur bastion to adjoin in gSuj an pur.T he septuagenarian leader led his party to victory but could not win his own seat.
WHATNEXT?
According to political observers, the two ageing stalwarts are witnessing the rise of the younger generation and a changing political dynamic.
Singh is believed to have an uneasy relationship with Gandhi, while D hum al has to compete with younger faces such as Union health minister JP Nadda.
Victory may not always be sweet. The two Him ac hal leaders, both con tenders for power till just a few days ago, will agree.