Former Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur named leader of BJP legislative party

In the recently concluded polls, Thakur won from Seraj with the highest margin though Congress wrested power in state

Former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur was on Sunday elected as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislative party as well as the leader of Opposition in the state assembly during a meeting of the party’s legislators.

In Shimla, a meeting of the party’s MLAs was held and it had in attendance state party chief Suresh Kashyap, state BJP in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna and co-incharge Sanjay Tandon, besides central observer Vinod Tawda. Thakur was elected unanimously with all the party’s 24 BJP MLAs proposing his name for the post.

Thanking his party colleagues after the meeting, Thakur, who is a six-time legislator, spoke to the media where he accused the Congress of being unable to run the state. “The difference in the vote share of the Congress and the BJP is just 0.9%, but we will accept the mandate of the people. The Congress, which promised the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme in 10 days, has been unable to do so; 14 days have passed,” Thakur said.

In the recently concluded elections in the states, which has traditionally alternated between parties, the Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member assembly, and the BJP won 25 seats.