Shimla, December 29
The BJP legislature party today formally elected P.K. Dhumal as its leader after which a delegation of senior leaders met Governor V.S. Kokje to stake claim for the formation of government.

Dhumal was unanimously elected leader of the BJP legislature party in the presence of national vice-president Shanta Kumar as 33 of the 41 party legislators attended the first meeting of the newly elected MLAs after elections.

State party chief Jai Ram Thakur proposed the name of Dhumal which was seconded by I.D. Dhiman and supported by Ravinder Ravi, Suresh Bhardwaj and Rajiv Bindal.

Later Dhumal, Shanta Kumar, Jai Ram Thakur, Satya Pal Jain, in charge of party affairs in Himachal, and O.P. Dhankar met the Governor to formally stake claim for the formation of the government.

Addressing the newly elected members, Dhumal said it was due to the blessings and support of Shanta Kumar that the BJP had been able to get a clear majority. For the first time, the party would form the government in the state on its own.

“Nobody should have any doubt about there being any differences between Shantaji and myself and this has been amply exhibited in the elections,” he said.

He said Shanta Kumar, who had selflessly dedicated his entire life for the party, would continue to guide the government. “It is very wrong to even raise the question as to what role Shanta Kumar will play as the fact remains that he will remain our guiding spirit,” he said.

He said there were several challenges before the government, especially in view of the grave financial health of the state. “Another major challenge for us is to not only bring the state closer geographically but also remove the feeling of regional discrimination and bring about emotional integration,” he said.

He said it would be a major challenge for the government to come up to the expectations of the people and make Himachal a model state not just among the hill states, but also in the entire country.

“It will be a trying time as there are several challenges but then the BJP has to fulfil aspirations of the people and undertake overall development,” he said. He said construction of roads, bridges and tunnels would be the priority area for the government.

He said the interests of farmers, horticulturists, employees and all other sections would be protected. Shanta Kumar said he would extend all possible support to the government.

“It is the unity exhibited by one and all that has ensured BJP’s victory and this will continue in future also,” he said.

He said the challenge now would be to add a new chapter of development in the history of the hill state.

Shimla, December 29
The absence of eight newly elected BJP MLAs from the party meeting held here today to elect P.K. Dhumal as the legislature party leader caused quite a stir much to the discomfiture of senior leaders.

Eight MLAs, Krishan Kapoor, Ramesh Dhwala, J.P. Nadda and Rajan Sushant, were conspicuous by their absence from the first meeting of the newly elected MLAs. The others who could not make it to the meeting included Vipin Parmar, Tulsi Ram, Praveen Sharma and Virender Kanwar.

Senior leaders, especially in charge of the party affairs in Himachal Satya Pal Jain, had to time and again justify the absence of these MLAs by stating that they had been delayed due to traffic jam somewhere near Bilaspur.

Interestingly, five of the eight MLAs who were not present at the meeting are from Kangra and are known Shanta loyalists.

However, some other staunch Shanta loyalists, including Harinarain Saini and Des Raj, stood out when the absence of these eight MLAs became the topic of discussion.

Later, Jain told mediapersons at the Raj Bhawan that all eight legislators who could not attend the meeting had signed a letter electing Dhumal as their leader.

Rajan Sushant, who has been elected from Jwali, was seen at the Raj Bhawan, where BJP leaders had gone to formally stake claim to form government.

Shimla, December 29
The BJP leader P.K. Dhumal will take oath as Chief Minister at the swearing in ceremony to be held at the Ridge in the presence of L.K. Advani and chief ministers of other BJP ruled states.

It will be for the first time that the swearing in ceremony of any Chief Minister will take place at a venue other than the Raj Bhawan.

Though many political rallies have been held on the historic Ridge but it will be the venue for the Chief Minister’s swearing in ceremony for the first time.

Dhumal will take oath at 11:25 am, as thousands of party workers are expected to be present for the ceremony.

The Governor V.S. Kokje today invited Dhumal to form the government, as the BJP has a clear majority with 41 MLAs.

It is for the second time that Dhumal will take oath as the Chief Minister of the state after heading the BJP led government for five years period from 1998 to 2003.

Besides L.K. Advani, some other senior Central party leaders are expected to attend the swearing in ceremony.

Chief ministers of the some of the BJP ruled states, including Vasundhra Raje of Rajasthan, Gen Khandoori of Uttrakhand, Ram Singh of Chattisgarh, Shivraj Chauhan of Madhya Pradesh are likely to be attend Dhumal’s oath taking ceremony.

It is only Dhumal who will be sworn in tomorrow that the ministers are likely to be sworn in on January 9.

Dhumal himself confirmed that the cabinet formation might take a little time but did not specify any date. He will leave for Delhi after taking oath.

The BSP had fielded seven women, while the Congress and the BJP gave tickets to six women candidates each and the rest were from the CPM, the LJP and the independents. — PTI

Shimla, December 29
A day after registering spectacular victory in the Himachal Pradesh assembly election, BJP MLAs have started assembling in Shimla since morning to start preparing for the government formation.

Majority of the 41 MLAs, including Dhumal have already arrived in the state capital, while others are on their way, BJP sources said.

The BJP has got a majority support, winning 41 seats in the 68-member HP House, the results of which were declared yesterday.

The newly elected BJP MLAs will meet in the afternoon to formally elect Dhumal as the legislature party leader.

The party high command had already crowned Dhumal as the Chief Minister nominee hence the legislature party meet will be a mere formality.

Veteran state BJP leader Shanta Kumar and party in-charge for the HP affairs Satya Pal Jain will be present in the legislature party meeting, the sources added.

Dhumal accompanied by other senior leaders is scheduled to meet governor V.S Kokje late in the afternoon to stake claim to form the government in the state, the sources said.

Though officially it is still not confirmed, sources in the BJP said that Dhumal might take the oath as the Chief Minister tomorrow at a function on the historic ridge maidan.

BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. advani, party president Rajnath Singh and senior leader Sushma Swaraj besides the chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states are expected to attend the function tomorrow. — PTI

Shimla, December 29
Though the performance of women candidates hasn’t been much different than the previous elections but this time it is the young candidates, who found favour with the electorate of the state.

Five of the 24 women candidates, who contested the election this time, emerged victorious with the BJP that presently did not have a single woman legislator taking the major chunk.

Interestingly, the performance of young candidates both in the BJP and the Congress was better than their elderly colleagues.

Almost 18 candidates, who have won this time are in their early 40’s. Many elderly candidates, including horticulture minister, Raj Kishan Gaur, Lajja Ram and Ishwar Dass lost the electoral battle.

Both the BJP and the Congress had fielded six women candidates each, with only Power minister Vidya Stokes being able to win from the Congress.

The BJP candidates who have won include Shraveen Chaudhary from Shahpur, Renu Chaddha from Banikhet, Urmil Thakur from Hamirpur and Vinod Chandel from Doon.

This time it is the Congress stalwarts, including former ministers Asha Kumari, Chandresh Kumari and Anita Verma, who faced defeat.

The two other Congress women candidates who lost include Vidya Zar from Nadaunta and Ruma Kaundal from Jwalamukhi.

From the BJP, it was only Malvika Pathania from Nurpur and Shyama Sharma from Nahan, who lost the battle of the ballot.

In 2003, only four of the 31 women candidates who had contested the election were able to emerge victorious. All four women MLAs Vidya Stokes, Asha Kumari, Chandresh Kumari and Anita Verma belonged to the Congress.

Though both the Congress and the BJP have been supporting 33 per cent reservation for women.

When it came to ticket distribution, the two main political parties fielded only six candidates each, their plea being that winnability had to be kept in mind before fielding women.

Many senior Congress leaders, including revenue minister Sat Mahajan and former communication minister Sukh Ram did not contest the election and instead fielded their sons.

This has been done on the recommendation of the AICC observer. She added that the new committee will be constituted very shortly.

Mandi, December 29
After the BJP made a historic comeback for the third time in the state, the Congressmen are now engaged in the blame game.

They have termed the election debacle as the “defeat of the government” and on the other hand, they have blamed the poor showing on the poor organisational backup and mutual bickering that failed to counter the aggressive BJP campaigning in the recently concluded election.

Caretaker Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh told reporters at Shimla that they would sit together and introspect and find reasons for the party’s poor showing in the elections.

But the state president Viplov Thakur and former telecom minister Sukh Ram have termed the party defeat as the defeat of the government as only three ministers, including the Chief Minister himself won, while all others lost the election.

Talking to The Tribune here today Sukh Ram said, “I endorse the view of state president Viplove Thakur that it was the “defeat of the government as most of the ministers lost their seats. The second reason was that there was no organisational backup for the candidates. Only Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had toured most of the segments. Most ministers who should have toured other segments remained confined to their own segments even then they lost their seats”.

Sukh Ram, who had quit electoral politics this year, said the state was a Congress stronghold but now the BJP had emerged as an alternative and the Congress needed new initiative to strengthen the party, he added.

He said that D.D. Thakur was appointed the district president, but he left the Congress at the last moment and joined the BJP and fought election from Mandi Sadar. “Why such persons are appointed as presidents in the first place. How organisational support will come?”, he questioned.

But IPH minister Kaul Singh Thakur, who won the election from Drang by a narrow margin of 1,889 votes, disagreed and said, “The people wanted change in the state. I do agree that the Congress lacked a comprehensive strategy to tackle the BJP aggressive campaigns”.

Thakur said they would sit together and find reasons for the party’s defeat. “I toured Balh, addressed meetings in Chachiot and other segments as and when the party high command asked me to do so. The media management was also poor as the BJP left no stone unturned to keep the tempo of aggressive campaigning on in the media every day”, he added and called for a serious thinking on this.

The senior Congress leaders said they would sit together and do some soul-searching, ascertaining solid reasons for the party’s defeat.

“It is not the defeat of the government, but it is a collective failure and finding scapegoats would harm the party more”, they commented, requesting anonymity.

Hamirpur, December 29
With Prem Kumar Dhumal being elected as leader of the BJP legislature party, Hamirpur district has once again become the centre stage of state politics.

The district acquired a significant place in the politics of the state when P.K. Dhumal became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1998.

Even during that election, Hamirpur had returned all five BJP candidates to have its first CM from the district.

It was the emergence of late Thakur Jagdev Chand as an established leader in BJP politics after his win in 1977 that Hamirpur district became politically significant.

Though the Congress had dominated the politics of the state for several decades, it had few known leaders like late P.C. Verma and his son Ramesh Verma besides Narain Chand Prashar, who represented the area in the state Assembly and Parliament for quite a long period, but none of them could give a creditable place to Hamirpur in state politics.

Even I.D. Dhiman, leader of opposition in the outgoing Assembly and veteran of electoral politics, could not take Hamirpur to the centre stage.

It was only after the elevation of P.K. Dhumal as the Chief Minister that the district got prominence in state politics.

While people of the area feel proud to have CM from the district, they have also responded by voting in large number for the BJP.

If huge margins of victory of P.K. Dhumal in Bamsan, I.D. Dhiman in Mewa and Baldev Sharma in Naduanta constituencies are any indication then people of the district definitely want to have a significant place for the district in the state politics and it has acquired that place for the present.

He assured that he would continue to work for the betterment of the people of area and raise their problems on every front, including Vidhan Sabha.

Nahan, December 29
The all-pervading anti-incumbency wave proved no deterrent for the Congress in Sirmour, where traditional loyalties worked to ensure Congress victory in four out of five Assembly segments.

Humbling the BJP, its main rival in Nahan, Pachad, Shillai and Renuka, the Congress regained control of its most trusted bastion in the state.

All its four winning candidates from the area are tall leaders of the party and have promising political histories.

Kush Parmar and Prem Singh, who won Nahan and Renuka, respectively, are both four-time MLAs, ready to be sworn in again.

Vidhan Sabha speaker in the outgoing government Ganguram Musafir from Pachad has been voted back for the eighth time; Harsh Vardhan is ready to represent Shillai for the fourth time in a row.

Congress performance in the district is indeed surprising yet commendable considering Himachal’s aversion to incumbents and BJP’s star campaigns by president Rajnath Singh, P.K. Dhumal and Shatrughan Sinha.

Moreover, Congress has won back the significant Nahan seat from LJP’s Sadanand Chauhan, who had defeated its stalwart Kush Parmar by 1,191 votes in 2003.

To Parmar, son of Himachal’s first Chief Minister and four-time MLA, these elections posed the question of political survival. He barely managed to save his legacy by defeating BJP’s Shyama Sharma by 746 votes; Chauhan finished third.

Some would argue that Nahan has kept its old reputation of sending home the candidate of the opposition party, but elections results actually reaffirm an old belief - that YS Parmar’s legacy is “hard to erode”.

Never mind Kush Parmar’s inaccessibility - the only point his rivals used against him - his inheritance remains his biggest asset. No wonder he won despite the fact that no big Congress leaders campaigned for him.

Even in election days, Parmar for most part remained absent from Nahan, busy as he was in the margins.

That paid off while BJP’s Shyama Sharma and LJP’s Chauhan ate humble pies despite star-studded rallies by Shatrughan Sinha and Ram Bilas Paswan, respectively.

This proves how Nahan voters enjoy their rallies and free food servings, but they vote for more than rhetoric.

Elsewhere in Sirmour, too, Congress returned to victory riding the loyalty wave, though its victory margins have significantly depleted since 1998.

Only Ganguram Musafir improved his victory margin in Pachad from 1,286 in 2003 to 2,709 in 2007. He had won by 14,376 votes in 1998.

By polling 51.49 per cent of the valid votes this time, he defeated BJP’s Suresh Kashyap, a political novice, who was no match for Musafir’s experience.

In Renuka, four-time Congress MLA Prem Singh retained the seat by defeating old BJP rival Balbir Singh by 3,279 votes; his victory margin has, however, been falling, it was 11,238 in 1998 and 6,334 in 2003.

As for the segment, it is famous as Y.S. Parmar’s constituency for 25 years and has always voted for the Congress except in 1990 when JD-BJP combine won from here.

Same goes for Shillai, where Harsh Wardhan, son of Ghuman Singh Thakur, has returned to power for the fourth time since 1993.

He won by 3,464 votes over independent Amar Singh Chauhan, his margin was 9,588 in 1998 and 7,424 in 2003.

Interestingly, Poanta has for the second time in a row emerged as an exception to the norm of Congress rule in Sirmour, with BJP’s sitting MLA Sukh Ram defeating Congress’ Kirnsh Jung by 4,862 votes.

Sukh Ram reaped the harvest of rebellion within the local unit, with old Congress warhorse Ratan Singh hesitating to offer full support to Jung, who was chosen over him this time.

Jung also paid the price of family opposition, as his own cousin went to town
with the BJP.

From BSP’s side, Ratan Singh’s relative Manjinder Singh did the damage, as Sukh Ram polled 46.69 per cent of the votes to reach the Assembly.

Solan, December 29
With the BJP capturing all five assembly seats in the district, the chances of one of its MLA getting a ministerial berth has become bright.

Since the winners comprise two senior MLAs, Dr Rajiv Bindal from Solan and H. N. Saini from Nalagarh, both being three-time winners, one of them could be awarded with a ministerial berth.

Though Saini had been a minister in his earlier tenure, Bindal then had to contend with the post of being the chairman of the state pollution control board.

With Saini belonging to the Shanta camp and Bindal owing allegiance to Dhumal, the chances of the latter grabbing the minister’s post appears to be bright.

Political observers however feel the chances of Saini making it to the plum post are equally bright as both Shanta and Dhumal loyalists would get an adequate representation in the state.

Being an organisation man Bindal’s claim are believed to be stronger as Saini had migrated from the BSP.

What could however go against Saini is the banner of revolt raised by him along with another minister and four MLAs during Dhumal’s earlier stint.

This had not only created a political crisis for the then Dhumal government but had caused embarrassment for the party.

This issue had been used time and again by the Congress as a major ploy to demean the image of the BJP in these poll.

Since the BJP had gained eight seats from the Shimla constituency now the number of cabinet berths could rise this time.

Now with Solan alone having five MLAs, including two senior ones, the district was sure to get a suitable representation.

This was more so since the BJP had been raising the issue of Solan being ignored by the Congress all these years.

Earlier, Solan had to be content with a mere deputy speaker during the Congress regime though it had three MLAs from the district.

It was earlier in 1990 to 1993 that BJP’s M. N. Sofat had remained a minister from Solan. He was the lone cabinet representative from the constituency ever since it was carved out.

Bilaspur, December 29
Led by president Kuldeep Singh Chandel and secretary Balwant Kumar, the Gram Sabha Sehkari Samiti at Talai in this district has conducted business worth Rs 5.65 crore during the last financial year.

It has earned a net profit of Rs 2.67 lakh apart from providing cheaper essential commodities to the villagers and performing all beneficial duties under the cooperative movement for benefit of farmers.

This was announced by secretary Balwant Kumar while reading the expenditure and income account of the past one year at a general house of the society organised at Talai.

The society also honoured 24 talented school students, who have excelled in studies and other activities in the school.

Former president Thakur Das and senior cooperators of the area Devraj Sharma, Shiv Ram Bhardwaj, Brijlal, Kishori Lal Sharda, Devraj Dogra, Narender Sharma, Nikka Ram, Sardar Chand and Pawan Kaushal were also honoured.

The meeting was also addressed by Prithi Chand Dhiman and Jaishi Ram. Society vice-president Anant Ram, joint secretary Rajesh Patiyal and treasurer Vijay Sharma were also present, among others.

Kangra, December 29
The Sports Authority of India in a joint venture with the state government to provide modern training facilities to the sports talented girls of the state, a three-day selection trial for such girls would be held at SAI center at Dharamshala from January 15 to 17.

Ashok Kumar, incharge of the SAI training center at Dharamshala, said for this purpose selection trials in the game of athletics, basketball, hockey, kabaddi and volleyball, would held for the girls in the age group of 14 to 19 years, who had won medals at district, state, sub junior or Junior school , inter university and other national level competitions, for three days.

He said sports girls would be selected on the basis of talent and battery of tests. Selected girls would be provided free boarding and lodging, education expenses, sports kits, sports equipment, insurance and competition exposures, he informed.

The eligible girls can report at SAI center at Dharamshala at 9 am on January 15
for the trials.