Anurag Thakur sworn in as Union minister

New Delhi: At an election rally in Himachal Pradesh earlier this month, BJP president Amit Shah promised to make Anurag Thakur a “big leader” if voters in Hamirpur elected him with a record margin. They did. And Mr Shah kept his word, with Mr Thakur being sworn in as an Union minister on Thursday.

Son of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, Anurag Thakur had won the Hamirpur constituency for the fourth time by defeating Ram Lal Thakur of the Congress by nearly four lakh votes. He had got a vote share of 69.04 per cent.

Hailing from Samirpur village in Hamirpur district, Mr Thakur was elected as an MP for the first time in a by-election in May 2008. He followed it up with successive victories in the 2009 and 2014 Lok Sabha elections.

A former BJYM president, Mr Thakur led a march from Kolkata to Srinagar under the banner of ‘Rashtriya Ekta Yatra’ to unfurl the national flag at Lal Chowk on 26 January, 2011. Born on 24 October, 1974, Mr Thakur did his graduation from  the Doaba College in Punjab’s Jalandhar, where his father used to teach before joining politics.     

 The 44-year-old was the president of the Board of Control  for Cricket in India (BCCI) from May 2016-February 2017. The Supreme  Court had ordered his ouster for trying to hinder the implementation of the Lodha reforms.