What led to the defeat of Prem Kumar Dhumal in Himachal Pradesh

In an ironic twist to the tale, Prem Kumar Dhumal, the BJP's chief ministerial candidate in Himachal Pradesh lost his seat. The 73-year-old two-time chief minister of the state was the most popular face of the party in the state.

He lost the battle to his one-time protege, Rajinder Singh Rana of the Congress from the Sujanpur assembly seat.

What brought about the loss of Dhumal, the strongest BJP leader in the state. There are a variety of reasons that are being discussed. In some quarters, an internal sabotage is being spoken about in hush-hush tones.

While there would be deliberations on the internal sabotage, a move that was viewed as suicidal was his decision to change his constituency.

Dhumal himself was reluctant to shift his constituency from Hamirpur to Sujanpur. Rana had won Sujanpur twice and over the years consolidated his position in the constituency. While this was considered to be a bad move, party insiders say that it needed Dhumal to take on a strong candidate in Sujanpur.

Rana shared a better connect with the people of Sujanpur. For Dhumal, it was about starting from scratch and he had to build a fresh connect with the voter.

OneIndia News