E-Paper
Will not contest elections but will remain active in politics: Prem Kumar Dhumal
The 78-year-old was lying low ever since he suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of protege-turned-foe Rajinder Singh Rana from the Sujanpur assembly segment in the 2017 assembly elections
It is the end of electoral politics for BJP veteran and two-term former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal as he opted out of the November 12 state polls leaving his supporters stunned.
The 78-year-old was lying low ever since he suffered a shocking defeat at the hands of protege-turned-foe Rajinder Singh Rana from the Sujanpur assembly segment in the 2017 elections.
One reason for his stepping back may be him having crossed the age limit of 75 years fixed by the BJP for its leaders to retire from electoral politics. His supporters were expecting that party would field him from Sujanpur or Hamirpur to bolster its prospects in the Hamirpur district.
He had also attended the state election committee meeting held in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the nominees for the elections.
“I had conveyed to the party’s high command long back that I will not the contest elections this time. I have decided not to contest but that doesn’t mean I have quit politics,” Prem Kumar Dhumal said, who had attended the meeting of the Pradesh Election Committee in Delhi last evening.
Born on April 10, 1944, Dhumal comes from a family of army background. He did his primary education at his village school and later pursued MA in English (Honours) from Doaba College, Jalandhar and LLB from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar. He taught in a private college before joining politics. Dhumal remained the state vice president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in 1982.
The veteran leader unsuccessfully contested his first election for the Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat in 1985. He entered the lower house of the parliament in 1989 winning from Hamirpur and also became state president
He was re-elected in 1991 but lost in 1996. He became the state BJP president in 1993.
Dhumal was elected to the state assembly in 1998 from the Bamsan assembly segment and was chosen by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the in-charge of party affairs in Himachal, to lead the BJP-Himachal Vikas Congress coalition government. He also became the first non-Congress chief minister to complete a full term in the state.
He retained his seat in 2003 and became the leader of the opposition in the state assembly. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from Hamirpur in 2007 and returned to serve as the chief minister for the second term, the same year after BJP won the assembly elections with a thumping majority.
The Bamsan constituency was abolished in a delimitation exercise before the 2012 assembly elections and he shifted his base to Hamirpur winning with a comprehensive margin and again becoming the leader of opposition in the house.
In the 2017 elections party again announced him as the chief ministerial candidate and sent him to contest from Sujanpur where he suffered a shocking defeat.
After BJP launched a probe into the defeat of Pushkar Singh Dhami in the Uttarakhand assembly elections, Dhumal also demanded a similar inquiry into his defeat.
