BJP going into Himachal Pradesh polls without CM face

The party is hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma will help it beat anti-incumbency

When the BJP won the 2017 Assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh, Jai Ram Thakur was the central leadership's surprise pick to be the chief minister after former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal lost the election. But despite 78-year-old Dhumal retiring from electoral politics, the party has not announced Jai Ram as its chief ministerial face.

Himachal Pradesh has not repeated a government since 1985. The party is hopeful that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's charisma will help it beat the anti-incumbency.

But with the decision to not announce a chief ministerial face, and Dhumal's son, Union minister Anurag Thakur campaigning in earnest, party leaders have taken to speculating his return to his home state's politics.

When the party released the first list of its candidates for Himachal on Wednesday, Anurag said the party's high command would decide on the next CM.

Read | Congress banks on anti-incumbency, Virbhadra Singh's legacy in Himachal Pradesh polls

According to party sources, Jai Ram is upset at the party rejecting the candidature of several that he had recommended.

Meanwhile, Anurag, who is 48, and an avid sportsperson, is considered popular among the youth upset with the BJP over the 'Agniveer' scheme.

Neither his father, Dhumal, nor father-in-law, seven-term legislator Gulab Singh Thakur, are in the electoral fray, negating charges of dynastic politics.

On Friday, Anurag was in the Sujanpur Assembly constituency to campaign for BJP candidate Ranjit Singh. It is part of Anurag's Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency. At a public meeting, a visibly emotional Anurag said the time had come to pay gratitude to former CM Dhumal for his services to the state.

He said his father lost the 2017 Assembly polls but continued to serve the people of Sujanpur and visited every booth in the constituency. He said people were looking for a Dhumal-like leader who did not stop serving them despite his health issues.

The 2017 election was a close contest despite the BJP winning 43 of the 68 seats. In 2017, the win-loss margin in as many as 20 seats was less than 3,000 votes and less than a 1,000 votes in six seats.

To the BJP's relief, even the rival Congress has faced internal dissent after announcing party tickets in Himachal.

Meanwhile, during his visits to holy places in the last month, the PM has spoken about the Himachal polls and the importance of a 'double engine' government in Shimla.