Why Jairam Thakur remains BJP high command’s favourite despite loss?

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) high command seems to be pleased with the performance of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur in the just-concluded assembly elections in the hill state.

Thakur called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to explain the reasons for the party’s defeat in the polls. The fact that the Prime Minister agreed to meet him immediately after a convincing defeat indicates that Thakur continues to be in the good books of the BJP high command.  

Modi is well-versed with the political dynamics, local equations and the contours of Himachal Pradesh given that he was the BJP general secretary in charge of the hill state for many years.

In the just-concluded elections, Modi had sought to give a personal touch to the poll campaign. In his rallies across the state, he had appealed to the people of Himachal Pradesh to keep in mind the BJP’s symbol and not the party's candidates in the elections.  

He had told the voters that there was no need to remember the BJP candidates and that a vote for “kamal ka phool (the party’s lotus symbol) will come directly to Modi’s account as a blessing”.  

The extent of the Prime Minister’s involvement in the Himachal Pradesh elections could be gauged by the fact that he personally called a BJP rebel to withdraw from the contest in favour of the official candidate. A video of the conversation between Modi and former Member of Parliament (MP) Kripal Parmar went viral. However, Parmar did not budge.

For his part, Thakur was the only BJP stalwart who could salvage the party’s chances in his home district Mandi. Out of the ten seats there, the BJP won nine with Thakur winning with a huge margin of over 38,000 votes from the Seraj constituency.  

This was an improved performance from a year ago when the Congress won the Mandi Lok Sabha by-polls.

In contrast, the BJP failed to make any mark in Hamirpur, the home district of former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal and present union minister Anurag Thakur. Out of the five seats, the Congress bagged four and the remaining seat went to an independent, who has now pledged support to the ruling party.

The BJP performed better in Bilaspur, the home district of its national president JP Nadda, winning four of the five seats.

That the Prime Minister played down the defeat in Himachal Pradesh by referring to the small difference in vote share with the Congress also indicated that he wasn't particularly displeased with Thakur's performance as the chief minister for the past five years.

“In places where we didn’t directly win, the BJP’s vote share reflects people’s love for the BJP. The vote share showed that people tried to make the BJP victorious,” he added.

Modi said that never in the electoral history of Himachal Pradesh had the vote-share difference between the winner and the loser been less than 1 per cent.

“It has always been 5 per cent, 6 per cent or 7 per cent”, he added.

While the Congress party's vote share was 43.9 per cent, the BJP secured 43 per cent.

Indeed, some solace for Thakur.