Himachal Pradesh swings back to BJP; CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal loses

New Delhi: It was a bittersweet victory for the BJP in Himachal Pradesh, where it came back to power but its chief ministerial candidate and stalwart Prem Kumar Dhumal lost to his one-time protégé Rajendra Singh Rana of the Congress. Prof. Dhumal contested this time from a new constituency, Sujanpur, against a “popular” opponent who is well known for his social work in the area.

Many felt this could be the last electoral battle for Prof. Dhumal as he is just two years short of the BJP’s unofficial age bar of 75.

All eyes are now on the party leadership, which will take a call on who will be chief minister. The names of Union minister J.P. Nadda and senior leader Jairam Thakur have started doing the rounds in the state as the party’s parliamentary board appointed Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Narendra Singh Tomar as central observers for the legislature party meeting to chose its new leader.

Many felt internal strife was one of the main reasons for Prof. Dhumal’s defeat as some factions within the BJP were miffed over him being declared the party’s face in the hill state. Some even claimed it was hard for Prof. Dhumal to defeat Mr Rana, who had learnt all the political tricks from him.

The party leadership had also announced his name just a few days before the state went to the polls as factionalism in the state unit is something the BJP leadership has been battling for many years now.

Prof. Dhumal, who shares a good personal rapport with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was asked by the BJP leadership to contest from a new Assembly seat and not from his traditional seat of Hamirpur.