From ABVP worker to CM, rise through ranks for mason’s son
The fivetime legislator from Seraj, who joined the BJP youth wing, went on to take charge as the party’s state unit president in 1993; the 52yearold is set to take oath on December 27
SHIMLA: From an active worker of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), the student wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to chief ministerelect of Himachal Pradesh, 52-year-old Jai Ram Thakur has risen through the ranks.
Thakur, born on January 6, 1965, to a poor family in Tandi village of Mandi’s Thunag area, was fourth among five siblings — two sisters and three brothers.
His father Jhethu Ram worked as a mason, struggling to make ends meet.
Thakur went to a local school and completed his Bachelor of Arts (BA) from a college in Mandi where he was a student leader in the early 80s.
He earned a name in student politics and was soon elevated to the post of ABVP state secretary in 1986. After completing college, Thakur joined the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the BJP, in the 1990s.
In 1993, aged 28, Thakur began his stint as the chief of BJP’S state unit and contested the assembly polls from Chachiot (now Seraj) constituency.
Thakur lost, only to win the seat in the next election in 1998, and in 2003, in 2007, in 2012. And again in 2017. Known for keeping a low-profile, Thakur was re-elected in 2003. He was made the state BJP chief in 2006.
It was under his leadership that BJP registered an emphatic win in the 2007 polls. He also won a third consecutive term from his assembly segment.
He held the post till 2009, when he was inducted in council of ministers as a minister for rural development and panchayati raj. Thakur was again elected to the assembly for a fourth term in the 2012 assembly polls.
His Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) connections and a strong political profile had him among the favourites for the chief minister’s post.
When he takes oath, he will be the first CM from Mandi district.