Shimla, December 28
Leader of the BJP P.K. Dhumal is likely to be sworn in as Chief Minister on December 30 in the presence of central leaders L.K. Advani, Rajnath Singh and Sushma Swaraj.

Addressing a press conference here today, in charge of BJP affairs in Himachal Pradesh Satya Pal Jain said the BJP was keen that the process of government formation in the state was done at the earliest so that public mandate could be honoured.

“After formally electing Dhumal as leader of the legislature party, the BJP leaders will meet the Governor to stake claim for the formation of government in the state tomorrow,” he stated.

He said the meeting for formally electing Dhumal as the leader of the BJP legislature party would be held at Peterhoff at 2 pm tomorrow, after which the party delegation would meet the Governor.

He said while both Shanta Kumar and Dhumal would reach here tonight, the central leadership of the party would arrive here by tomorrow evening.

“The Cabinet is likely to be formed later and it is only Dhumal who will take oath as Chief Minister,” he added. He said though it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to make his ministry, senior leader Shanta Kumar would be consulted on the issue.

Jain said the mandate given by the people was not just against the anti-people policies of the Virbhadra government, but also against the almost four-year rule of the UPA regime. “Despite AICC chief and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh campaigning for the Congress, the party was unable to gain majority, which is a reflection on the central government as well,” he remarked.

Commenting on the dismal performance of the BSP, Jain said Mayawati’s attempt to create a mirage about its social engineering formula had failed in the state miserably.

“It is very well established fact that it is only the BJP which can be the alternative to the Congress and there is no scope for a third front in HP,” he opined.

(From left) Accompanied by drummers, BJP workers celebrate the party’s glorious victory at the hustings in Lakkar Bazar, Shimla; and Jubilant BJP chief Rajnath Singh flashes the victory sign at the party’s headquarters in Delhi. — Tribune photos by S. Chandan, Manas Ranjan Bhul

Shimla, December 28
Contrary to his assertions that the Congress government will complete its term up to March 9, 2008, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today resigned after recommending dissolution of the State Assembly.

A special meeting of the Cabinet was convened after the assembly results where the government expressed gratitude to the people for their support over the past five years.

Congratulating the BJP and its leader P.K. Dhumal, he assured full cooperation of his party in carrying forward all programmes for the welfare of people.

He said the Congress would play a constructive role as an opposition party.

Shimla, December 28
Maintaining the tradition of voting out the ruling party, voters of the hill state have opted for a “change of guard” for the fifth time in succession.

The “mood for change” prevailed once again and all other issues were relegated to the background. The BJP cashed in on the anti-incumbency factor and romped home with a comfortable majority.

The party deployed a battery of star campaigners and carried out its campaign in a well-organised manner.

More importantly, it ensured that leaders of rival factions headed by P.K. Dhumal and Shatna Kumar worked in tandem, which ultimately provided the decisive edge to the party.

The Congress, on the other hand, went to the arena without a clear leadership and it also lacked the necessary strategy, which is crucial for wining electoral battles. The high command virtually left the entire burden of campaigning on Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Compared to the BJP, the Congress not only seemed short of star campaigners but also lacked adequate resources. The party was mainly banking on differences between Shanta Kumar and Dhumal to reach the winning post.

The BSP, which managed to win just one seat, again proved that there is little room for a third political front in the state where the two-party system seems to have found a firm footing. Worse, state convener of the party Vijay Singh Mankotia came a poor third in the Dharamsala constituency.

The vote share of the Congress declined by a mere 2 per cent from 41 per cent in 2003 to 39 per cent.

But, this negative swing cost the party 20 seats. However, the BJP’s voteshare shot up from 35.38 per cent to over 43 per cent which enabled the party to improve its tally from 186 to 41 seats.

The main reason for the increase in the vote share is that in the past elections there were a large number of Independents in the fray, including 23 BJP rebels, who together secured 12.60 per cent of the total vote and six were elected.

Besides, Sukh Ram’s HVC secured about 6 per cent votes, though it managed to win only one seat. Further, some of the HVC leaders like Mohinder Singh, Mansa Ram and Ram Lal Markandey joined the BJP.

The outcome of the poll has once again demonstrated that issues and concerns of the people fall by wayside and the anti-incumbency factor plays the decisive role in deciding the result. The Congress and the BJP have been ruling the state in turns for the past two decades.

The last time when a ruling party managed to retain power was in 1985 when Virbhadra Singh led the party to victory.

It was, however, an aberration as the Congress went for snap poll in the wake of the sympathy wave generated by the assassination of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The BJP formed the government in 1990 and 1998, while the Congress came to power in 1993 and 2003.

Mandi, December 28
With BJP chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal set to take oath in a couple of days at Shimla, more than 12 BJP leaders from lower, middle and upper belts, divided along caste and regional lines, have started lobbying for the 12 ministerial berths in the new House.

Dhumal now faces the daunting task of striking a tricky balance, keeping caste, regional and gender factors in mind and both “BJP camps”, one led by Shanta Kumar and another by Dhumal himself, revealed top party sources.

The stalwarts who are hot contenders for ministerial berths from Kangra district that elected 9 BJP MLAs, three short of Congress 12 MLAs during current regime, included K.K. Kapur, Dharamsala, a loyalist of national vice-president of the party Shanta Kumar, Harbans Singh Rana, a senior BJP leader and Praveen Sharma, who made history defeating Congress veteran B.B. Butail from Palampur, and Ramesh Dhawala, Jawalamukhi, who is senior BJP leader and supporter of Shanta.

Lobbying hard for berths include Jai Ram Thakur, state BJP chief who won for a third consecutive term from Chachiot, Roop Singh Thakur (Sundernagar), former forest minister, and Gulab Singh Thakur (Jogindernagar), former speaker and Mahinder Thakur, former PWD minister in the BJP-HVC regime. Govind Thakur (Kulu) enjoyed support of the Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and tribal leader Markende from Lahaul-Spiti enjoyed support of Dhumal.

The BJP will have to adjust at least two ministers from Mandi and one from Kulu and one from the tribal belt to strike the regional, tribal balance in the 12-member ministry, pointed out analysts here. “Jai Ram was declared ministerial candidate by Sushma Swaraj in her rally in Chachiot and voters responded positively”.

Narender Bragta, a pro-Dhumal supporter, who made BJP inroads into the apple-belt, the Congress stronghold, for the first time is tipped as hot contender for the Cabinet berth and Suresh Bhardwaj, who won the prestigious Shimla seat is also tipped as minister

Others in the race include Jagat Parkash Nadda (Bilaspur), Rikhi Ram Kaundal (Ghumarwin), Urmil Thakur (Hamirpur), Sharveen Chaudhary (Shahpur), Renu Chadda (Banikhet) and Rajiv Bindal (Solan).

Kangra, December 28
Major Vijay Singh Mankotia (retd), former tourism minister and chief ministerial candidate of the BSP, today failed to make it to the Assembly from Dharamsala.

He remained at the third place in a five-cornered contest. He had engineered the Congress debacle by circulating the controversial CDs allegedly exposing the conversations of Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and MP wife Pratibha Singh regarding certain bribes.

Mankotia, a sitting MLA from Shahpur, decided to contest on BSP ticket from Dharamsala following the public announcement of BSP supremo Mayawati here that Mankotia was the chief ministerial candidate of the party.

Pinning hopes on voters’ mandate against the alleged bias of the Virbhadra regime towards this region, Mankotia preferred to fight poll from Dharamsala.

But, his dreams were shattered when he lost to BJP candidate and former transport minister Kishen Kapoor today.

Hamirpur, December 28
The BJP won four of the five assembly seats in Hamirpur district. BJP chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal trounced his Congress rival B.C Lagwal by 26,007 votes in the Bamsan assembly constituency.

Urmil Thakur of the BJP won by 6,961 votes, defeating Anita Verma of the Congress from Hamirpur. Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu is the lone Congress winner from Nadaun in Hamirpur district to survive the BJP wave, winning by a narrow margin of 586 votes, defeating Vijay Agnihotri of the BJP.

In the Mewa (reserve) seat, I.D. Dhiman won by 10,375 votes defeating Congress candidate Suresh Kumar for the fifth consecutive term. District BJP president Baldev Sharma defeated his nearest Congress rival Vidya Zar.

Kangra, December 28
It was last-minute unexpected victories of two Congress candidates from Pragpur and Jaswan that the party managed to bag five seats out of 16 in this district with the BJP winning nine.

The BSP emerged victorious in the Kangra seat and the only victorious independent in the district was BJP rebel Rakesh Pathania from the Nurpur constituency.

Sanjay Chaudhary was the only BSP candidate in the entire state who has won the election on the Kangra seat. He has defeated his nearest rival Surender Kaku of the Congress.

Former transport minister G.S.Bali retained the Nagrota Bagwan seat consistently for a third time with a margin of 5,751 votes, defeating his nearest rival of the BJP Mangal Singh Chaudhary, a first-timer, who got 22,630 votes against 28,381 votes polled by Bali.

Sarween Chaudhary of the BJP, who has won by the highest margin in the district, was elected from the Shahpur constituency, defeating her nearest rival Ompraksah Singh of the BSP by a margin 9,031 votes.

She was polled 25,174 votes against BSP candidate’s 16,143 votes. Right-hand man of Chief Minister Virbhdra Singh, Kewal Singh Pathania (NSUI state chief) remained at the third place with only 7,225 votes in a five-cornered contest.

It was a neck-and-neck contest for Congress candidates in the Pragrpur and Jaswan constituencies with Yoj Raj defeating the sitting MLA Naveen Diman of the BJP by a margin of 342 votes in Pragpur and Nikhil Rajour of winning by a margin of 130 votes against Bikram Singh of the BJP in a triangular contest.

Former transport minister Kishen Kapoor (BJP) defeated two former ministers Chandresh Kumar of the Congress and state convener of the BSP and former tourism minister Vijay Singh Mankotia from the Dharamsala constituency.

Kapoor got 20,362 votes, Chandresh Kumari 12,746 and Mankotia secured 11,331 votes in a five-cornered contest. Workers of the BJP distributed sweets among residents.

Ramesh Dhawal of the BJP, a former minister and sitting MLA, retained his seat from Jawalamukhi where Congress rebel Sanjay Rattan was the nearest rival.

Rouma Koundal of the Congress got only 4,441 votes whereas Ramesh Chand of the BJP was polled 22,562 votes and Sanjay Rattan 17,798 votes.

Nurpur, December 28
After a long gap of 35 years, an Independent candidate has repeated victory from Nurpur, a Congress bastion represented in the Assembly by octogenarian leader and revenue minister of the outgoing Virbhadra Singh government Sat Mahajan.

Rebel BJP leader and former HPTDC chairman Rakesh Pathania defeated Ajay Mahajan, Congress nominee and political successor of octogenarian leader Sat Mahajan by 4165 votes.

He said he would re-start the stalled development of the Nurpur area with the blessings of the new Dhumal government.