Prem Kumar Dhumal’s connect with voters has Congress rebels seeking his blessings

Pratibha Chauhan

Shimla, April 1

Struggling to find their feet in the BJP, the six disqualified Congress MLAs seeking re-election on the party ticket are desperate to seek the blessings of two-time Chief Minister PK Dhumal, who still wields considerable influence in state politics.

Force to reckon with

• Congress leaders admit that Dhumal is still a force to reckon with and has personal following everywhere
• Ignoring Dhumal in the 2022 Assembly poll had cost the BJP dear, a fact party leaders had admitted after the electoral defeat

Dhumal was forced to bow out of electoral politics following his defeat in the 2017 Assembly elections to Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur. He has been keeping a low profile since then but still maintained contact with people. It is Dhumal’s connect with the public and respect he commands not just in Hamirpur but also in other districts that the Congress rebels are flocking to his house at Samirpur to seek his blessings.

Party sources say that his son and Union Minister Anurag Thakur is seeking re-election for the fifth consecutive term from the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency and this can soften Dhumal. “Though it may be difficult for Dhumal to forget and forgive Rana, it will in the larger interest of his son’s prospects if he supports Rana,” said enior party leaders.

The BJP high command had reportedly held talks with Dhumal and Anurag before taking Rajinder Rana into the party fold. Interestingly, four of the six Assembly segments where byelections will be held on June 1 along with the Lok Sabha elections fall under the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency, where Dhumal holds considerable influence. The four segments where former Congress leaders are trying their luck on the BJP ticket are Sujanpur (Rajinder Rana) and Barsar (Inder Dutt Lakhanpal) in Hamirpur district and Gagret (Chaitanya Sharma) and Davinder Bhutto (Kutlehar) in Una district.

Strange as it may sound, even Dhumal’s bête-noire Rajinder Rana has been compelled to seek his blessings. Once a close confidante of Dhumal, Rana parted ways to contest as an Independent candidate and later joined the Congress. In fact, Rana attained fame after his victory over Dhumal in the 2017 Vidhan Sabha poll by 1,919 votes, upsetting all political calculations.

Lakhanpal, Bhutto and Chaitanya Sharma, who are contesting the byelections as BJP candidates, too, had sought Dhumal’s blessings. Two Independent MLAs Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra) and Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) accompanied by Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur called on Dhumal.