The Hindu : Front Page : BJP wrests Himachal

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Saturday, Dec 29, 2007
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BJP wrests Himachal

Kanwar Yogendra and Sujay Mehdudia

Dhumal to take oath on Sunday

SHIMLA/NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party swept back to power in Himachal Pradesh, dislodging the Virbhadra Singh-led Congress government. It scored a comfortable victory, bagging 41 seats in the 68-member Assembly. The results were announced on Friday.

The Congress won 23 seats, down 18 from its previous tally. The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) bagged one seat and Independents three.

The BJP’s victory in the hill State came close on the heels of the party retaining power in Gujarat. The party’s campaign was spearheaded by Prem Kumar Dhumal. He will have a second innings as Chief Minister.

Thrown out

“The people have thrown out the corrupt and inefficient Congress government and reposed faith in the BJP,” Mr. Dhumal told TheHindu over phone from Hamirpur. He trounced Congress candidate and his schoolmate B.C. Lagwal by a margin of 26,000 votes. “I will take oath on December 30 in Shimla at 11 a.m.,” he said.

Mr. Dhumal, who represents Hamirpur in the Lok Sabha constituency, said the BJP highlighted the Congress “failure to get special development package from the UPA government.”

A meeting of the BJP Legislature Party on Saturday will choose Mr. Dhumal as its leader.

The Congress, which went to the polls under the leadership of five-time Chief Minister, Virbhadra Singh, suffered major reverses in Mandi, Solan and Kangra districts.

While three Ministers bit the dust, Mr. Singh survived the saffron sweep, retaining his Rohru seat in Shimla district. He won by a margin of 14,000 votes. The defeated Ministers included Raj Kishan Gaur (Agriculture), Ram Lal Thakur (Forest and Sports) and Kuldeep Kumar (Forests and Industries).

Senior Congress leader Vidya Stokes won from Kumarsein and Anil Sharma, son of the former Union Minister, Sukh Ram, scored an easy victory from Mandi (Sadar).

G.S. Bali, a former Minister, won the Nagrota seat in Kangra district. He had to resign from his post after a sting operation. The former Congress leader and now State president of the BSP, Vijay Singh Mankotia, was among the prominent losers. Ajay Majahan, son of veteran Congress leader Sat Mahajan, lost to BJP rebel and Independent Rakesh Pathania from Nurpur seat in Kangra district.

‘Will sit in Opposition’

Mr. Virbhadra Singh said he respected the people’s mandate and would now sit responsibly in the Opposition.

The BJP’s State in-charge, Satpal Jain, said people had rejected the issues raised by Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during campaigning.

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