Social media platforms on Sunday, December 24, were abuzz with tweets and posts that Jairam Thakur — who also spells his name as Jai Ram Thakur — had been chosen as the new chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.
The decision was taken at the meeting of BJP leaders in Shimla attended by the likes of Union Home Minister JP Nadda, Bihar Health Minister Mangal Pandey and former HP chief minister and the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal — who lost the just-concluded state Assembly election, necessitating this meeting.
Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Urban Development Minister Narendra Singh Tomar were also present at the meeting as central observers of the BJP.
Here are seven things you need to know about Jai Ram Thakur:
1. Jai Ram Thakur is a five-time MLA, and was one of the frontrunners for the post of chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.
2. Thakur has already been president of the HP unit of the BJP in the latter part of the last decade, and his reign was deemed non-controversial and thus “acceptable” by those choosing the next chief minister of the state.
3. Thakur is currently an MLA from the Seraj constituency. He won the seat in the just-concluded election by defeating his nearest competitor — the Congress’ Chet Ram — by 11,254 votes.
4. He contested the 2013 byelection to the Mandi Lok Sabha constituency but lost to then chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh by nearly 1.37 lakh votes.
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