THAKUR VS THAKUR

On September 25, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur took five shots at the target at the inauguration of a new shooting range in Kasauli’s premium Pinegrove School.

- Anilesh S. Mahajan

He missed all five. Amid the preparations for the forthcoming assembly election, the CM has been busy inaugurating a bevy of projects across the state. Thakur is leading the BJP campaign in the hill state and trying to hit a target no other chief minister has hit before—get a repeat mandate.

Himachal could go to the polls in the first half of November and, more than Thakur, BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda is invested in the results. It’s his home state, and the election comes just two months before his tenure ends. The buzz is that Nadda may get an extension or even a second term as party chief and he can ill afford an adverse result. He flew in on October 2 to finalise the campaign details before the elections are announced (expected in the second week of October) and, crucially, talk to some of the candidates who could be dropped.

In a change from the BJP script in poll-bound states where chief ministers are routinely axed, Nadda is backing Thakur to the hilt. State BJP leaders believe the state’s perceived pro-Hindutva slant and vote-catcher-in-chief Prime Minister Narendra Modi will help the party win a second consecutive term. On October 5, PM Modi was in Kullu for the famous Dussehra fair. It’s the first time a prime minister is joining the celebrations and the BJP will be hoping it boosts the pro-Hindu sentiment in the state. Modi also inaugurated the new AIIMS in Bilaspur.