GUJARAT IS STILL MODI’S BJP storms back to power in Himachal sans Dhumal
FIELD WIDE OPEN With its CM candidate losing, party looks for new face; Jai Ram Thakur, JP Nadda among frontrunners
SHIMLA: The BJP returned to power in Himachal on Monday with an emphatic victory, tearing down the Congress.
The BJP, which won 44 of 68 seats in the assembly, came within touching distance of a twothirds majority. The Congress trailed with 21 seats and the CPM bagged one seat. The remaining two went to Independents.
Despite its spectacular victory, the BJP was left red-faced as its CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal lost his seat. Dhumal lost to his one-time protégé-turned-rival Rajinder Rana of the Congress by 1,919 votes in Sujanpur constituency after trailing him throughout the counting. The result was declared late in the night due to time taken in counting of “service votes”.
Dhumal, who accepted defeat, said the result was unexpected. “The party’s victory is more important for me than my own defeat,” the crestfallen two-time former CM told reporters.
His defeat has left the CM’S post wide open with Seraj legislator Jai Ram Thakur and Union health minister Jagat Prakash Nadda emerging as frontrunners. A former state BJP chief, Thakur, who has won his seat five straight times, has the backing of some senior functionaries of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.
Another factor that may weigh in his favour is that the party has swept Mandi district he belongs to. He is learnt to have been called by the party leadership to Delhi. Considered close to BJP president Amit Shah, Nadda was in the running for the CM’ post till the time the party named Dhumal.
However, a section of the state BJP is still rooting for Dhumal. Varinder Kanwar, who won from Kutlehar in Una district, has offered to vacate his seat for the ex-cm. BJP state unit chief Satpal Singh Satti, Gulab Singh Thakur, Ravinder Ravi and Maheshwar Singh are among the party leaders who failed to win their seats.
As for the Congress, CM Virbhadra , his son Vikramaditya, a first-time candidate, and state Congress chief Sukhvinder Sukhu won their seats comfortably. Battling factionalism and anti-incumbency, the party lost 1% from its vote share of 42.81% in 2012, but most of its ministers and chief parliamentary secretaries including Kaul Singh Thakur, Thakur Singh Bharmouri and Sudhir Sharma suffered defeat.