Himachal Pradesh: Setback for BJP on Anurag Thakur’s home turf, party loses all 5 seats in Hamirpur
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lost power in Himachal Pradesh to the Congress, managing to bag only 25 seats in the 68-member Assembly. The Congress secured the majority in the hill-state winning a total of 40 seats, five seats above the magic mark of 35 required to form government.
On Thursday, soon after the BJP’s Himachal loss became clear, senior BJP leader and Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur, who is a Member of Parliament from the state, started trending on social media.
One of the major takeaways from BJP’s setback in Himachal Pradesh was the loss on all five seats falling in Thakur’s home district of Hamirpur. In contrast, the BJP performed well in Jairam Thakur’s stronghold Mandi, but fared poorly in the Shimla parliamentary constituency and Hamirpur district. BJP’s Suresh Kumar Kashyap is the sitting MP from Shimla.
The assembly seats that fall under Hamirpur parliamentary constituency are: Dharampur, Dehra, Jwalamukhi, Bhoranj (SC), Sujanpur, Hamirpur, Barsar, Nadaun, Chintpurni (SC), Gagret, Haroli, Una, Kutlehar, Ghumarwin, Bilaspur, Sri Naina Devi Ji and Jandutta (SC).
Poor governance, inflation, unemployment and train service to Hamirpur from Una were the major issues in Hamirpur parliamentary constituency.
The people were reportedly unhappy as Hamirpur was not given representation in the Cabinet and former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, father of Anurag Thakur, was pushed to the corner. This cost the BJP heavily, as the groundswell suggests.
Thakur, who led a spirited campaign for the assembly elections in his home state, said he respects the mandate in Himachal Pradesh, and BJP would continue to work in the interest of the state.
BJP national president JP Nadda hails from Himachal Pradesh, which saw BJP rebels in at least 21 of the 68 constituencies. Only two of them won, but others got significant votes would otherwise have gone to the BJP.
In Himachal Pradesh, a three-cornered factionalism was seen at play. Anurag Thakur and JP Nadda lead a faction each, while the third group remained loyal to the Chief Minister.
