Five-time MLA Jai Ram Thakur will be the 14th chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and is likely to be sworn in on 27 December at a star-studded ceremony.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah will attend the swearing-in ceremony of Thakur in Shimla, the party said on Sunday. Chief ministers of BJP-ruled states will attend the swearing-in ceremony, a senior BJP leader told IANS.
BJP's Jairam Thakur celebrates along with supporter after he was chosen as the party's Legislature party leader at a meeting, in Shimla. PTI
The 52-year-old BJP leader edged past party veterans in the race to the top post and he will be the first leader from the politically-significant Mandi region to helm the hill state. Mandi has 10 Assembly seats, second only to Kangra's 15.
Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar, who along with Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman was appointed as a central observer by the BJP, announced that Thakur was chosen to be the next chief minister as thousands of party workers began celebrating.
Thakur, a confidant of Union Health Minister JP Nadda and associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, will take oath as the new chief minister along with his Cabinet colleagues at the Ridge in the state capital.
The Seraj MLA, a thoroughbred RSS man with a stint with the ABVP, emerged as the frontrunner for the chief minister post after the shock defeat of the BJP's chief ministerial face Prem Kumar Dhumal in the Assembly polls.
Even though Dhumal was still in the run for the chief minister's post till Saturday night, he chose to opt out. Thakur's name was proposed by senior leaders Suresh Bhardwaj and Mahender Singh and seconded by others.
He along with senior leaders later met Governor Acharya Devvrat to stake claim to form the new state government.
Seen largely as a low-profile man, Thakur is from a farming family of Mandi. He did his post-graduation from Panjab University in Chandigarh and decided to join politics when he was in his 20s.
The BJP wrested power in Himachal from the Congress, winning close to a two-thirds majority with 44 seats in the 68-member assembly. The Congress won 21 seats, independents two and the Communist Party of India-Marxist one.
With inputs from agencies
Published Date: Dec 25, 2017 07:13 am | Updated Date: Dec 25, 2017 07:13 am
