Dhumal's setback a sabotage?

The setback staring at BJP's chief ministerial candidate and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has triggered talks among party leaders of a possible "internal sabotage" that led to the defeat of the veteran leader.

The race for Dhumal's replacement has also begun.

Dhumal, when posed with the question of internal sabotage, did not decline or  agree with the  possibility. He just  said he would undertake an assessment of his loss later on.

Sujanpur was not Dhumal's Assembly seat of choice. He was asked to shift base  there from Hamirpur, where he was the sitting MLA.

After that, the party declined to announce Dhumal as a chief ministerial candidate.  

This brewed widespread dissent within the party.

Later,  when the BJP's central leadership sensed  the  possibility of a  slip in the vote bank, it announced Dhumal as the chief ministerial candidate midway through the campaign.

Sujanpur was a difficult seat to win any day, given that  Congress' Rajinder Rana had  a strong influence at the grass roots, having served the constituency for long.

While the BJP won the state, Dhumal's detractors, many say, have managed to keep him out of the reckoning.

Names of senior leaders Jai Ram Thakur  and Suresh Bhardwaj, among others, are doing the rounds  to be Dhumal's replacement.

One BJP leader, who won the election on Monday, has offered to vacate his seat for Dhumal, which keeps
Dhumal's options open, with the possibility of a by-election.