Jai Ram questions ‘effectiveness’ of big leaders in 2022 Assembly poll

Leader of the Opposition Jai Ram Thakur today took a veiled swipe at current Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur by questioning the effectiveness of "prominent" leaders during the 2022 Assembly elections.

Thakur, while speaking at a Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) felicitation function in Mandi, said, “The presence of big names did not help the BJP in any meaningful way. The BJP won only 25 out of 68 Assembly seats, including nine in Mandi district and 12 in the Mandi parliamentary constituency. If similar results were achieved in other parliamentary constituencies, particularly those led by prominent leaders, the party may have retained power in the state," he added.

Without naming anyone, the former Chief Minister said that if influential leaders had delivered results in their regions, the BJP would have still been in power. His comments are widely being interpreted as a reference to Anurag Thakur’s home district Hamirpur, where the BJP failed to win even one seat in the 2022 Assembly elections.

This comes days after slogans were raised in Mandi, projecting Anurag as the future Chief Minister of the state, further fuelling speculation in the party. While Anurag dismissed such a talk as rumours, the remarks have reignited discussions about factionalism in the Himachal BJP.