Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur will he the Leader of Opposition of Himachal’s newly-elected assembly.
The BJP Legislature Party on Sunday unanimously elected Thakur as the BJP Legislature Party Leader, which would eventually lead to his becoming the Leader of Opposition in the 68-member Himachal assembly.
Recently-elected MLAs of the BJP on Sunday met at Willie Park state Guest House in Shimla in the presence of BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, who served as party observer. BJP state president Suresh Kashyap, BJP in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-in-charge Sanjay Tandon, and former Bihar minister Mangal Pandey, were present in the meeting.
All the MLAs unanimously elected Jairam Thakur as their leader.
Following the election, Thakur said in Hindi, "It is our primary responsibility to carry out every responsibility of the BJP family. I thank all BJP MLAs and office-bearers with my heart to give me the responsibility of BJP Legislature Party Leader. I will proactively carry out this responsibility with the support and affection of all of you."
Earlier, names of former Speaker Vipin Singh Parmar, who represents Kangra district and former state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti, were also being mentioned for leadership. But Thakur emerged as a unanimous change.
Talking to the media, Pandey said Thakur has been selected as the Leader of the BJP Legislature Party in the Legislature Party meeting. His name was proposed by all 24 MLAs, including Vipin Parmar, Satpal Satti, Balveer Verma, Dr. Janak Raj.
Pandey said Thakur did good work as CM and took several new initiatives on welfare and development. He added that under his supervision, the BJP would face the negative government of the Congress which has started closing down several institutions and offices opened by the previous government.
The BJP would approach Governor, hold protests, and will even seek legal remedies, said Himachal BJP President Suresh Kashyap.
In the recently-held Himachal assembly elections, Thakur-led BJP government was defeated by the Congress party. Following the victory, the Congress party made four-term MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu CM of Himachal.
Sukhu is yet to constitute his Cabinet as only he and Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri have taken oath so far. They were sworn in on December 11 by Himachal Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.
The BJP, which had 44 MLAs in the previous assembly, could win only 25 seats and lost power as people went with the 37-year-old trend of changing the government after five years. The BJP contested this election on the ‘raj nahi, riwaj badlenge’ —we will not change government but custom— with ‘custom’ being the trend of changing the party in power every five years.
