Shimla, Sep 4 Bharatiya Janata Party's Himachal Pradesh veteran and two-time chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, who lost to his one-time protege Rajinder Singh Rana of the Congress in the last polls from a new seat, is keen to be in the fray in the year-end assembly polls.
At the age of 78, his firm belief is that he was defeated but is not politically destroyed.
Poll analysts feel three-time Member of Parliament Dhumal, who played a crucial role in forming the BJP government with support from Sukh Ram's Himachal Vikas Congress in 1998, has decided to give himself yet another chance to taste victory and that too from the turf he was routed from.
As the party registered a handsome win in a House of 68, the party's chief ministerial candidate Dhumal faced defeat in a straight contest by 1,919 votes in Sujanpur, the seat in his home district of Hamirpur, where he was asked to contest from despite his reluctance as his former 'poll manager' and sitting Independent legislator Rana was in the fray on a Congress ticket.
BJP leaders close to Dhumal, the father of Union Minister of Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur, say the former chief minister, who played a crucial role for two decades in strengthening the party after the exit of Shanta Kumar, the first non-Congress chief minister in 1977, should be given an opportunity to re-contest despite his advancing age. They say the voters are emotionally attached to him after his defeat.
"Dhumal-ji wants to say goodbye to the party honourably, rather than with the blot of defeat on his face. His contribution to the party is unparalleled and he still wields considerable influence in the state. At this age, there should be an opportunity to teach his friend-turned-foe a lesson by defeating him in the same manner in the forthcoming assembly polls," a senior BJP leader told on the condition of anonymity.
Without mincing words, the party leader, who was a Cabinet minister in the last term of Dhumal, added, "Dhumal-ji has recently conveyed to the party central leadership about his desire to enter the fray, the last in his political career. I hope the leadership will honour his feelings by giving him one more opportunity."
In the last assembly polls, party insiders say, Dhumal was upset over the party shifting him from his Hamirpur bastion to adjoining Sujanpur. Also just a few days before the polls, the BJP declared him the party's face for the polls.
Often referred to as "sadak wale mukhya mantri" or the Chief Minister who is credited with building roads, Dhumal helmed the state from 1998 to 2003 and from 2008 to 2012.
Of late, Dhumal has become active in the state politics by participating in public meetings, largely in his nurtured Sujanpur constituency.
"In politics one faces a defeat while another faces a win. It will be a failure on our part not to be able to give justice to the people
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor