Union minister Anurag Thakur files nomination from Hamirpur Lok Sabha seat
Shimla: Accompanied by his father, Prem Kumar Dhumal, a two-time chief minister of the state, Anurag Thakur filed his nomination papers for the fifth time in the Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency, a stronghold of the BJP and the Dhumals.
The only difference this time will be Anurag Thakur’s rise beyond the shadows of his father, who earlier had been Thakur’s star-campaigner as chief minister and even after this. Dhumal had campaigned actively in all earlier elections of Anurag Thakur but this time he has chosen to take a back seat drive to enable union information and Broadcasting minister to carve-out his own niche in the constituency he had inherited from father in 2008 bypoll,when Dhumal had quit the seat and takeover as chief minister second time.
His third term was thwarted by his defeat in 2017 Assembly polls even as BJP’s chief ministerial face. Five time MLA Jairam Thakur was chosen to lead the BJP government formed after a thumping victory of the party under Dhumal. Prem Kumar Dhumal has become MP from here three times and his son Anurag Thakur four times. In the last 40 years, the Dhumal family has represented this parliamentary constituency for 29 years. In the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Anurag Thakur will contest for the fifth consecutive time as a BJP candidate, facing competition from Congress’s Satpal Rajzada. Following his nomination and a strong show of support, Thakur criticized the state’s Congress government and the Aam Aadmi Party while highlighting the achievements of the Narendra Modi government and the anticipated developments in the constituency with the center’s support. “The state Congress government created only hurdles, first in setting up AIIMS at Bilaspur and then in other projects including the medical college at Hamirpur,” Thakur expressed. He further emphasized, “CM Sukhu had given a statement regarding the medical college, but he does not have a single penny’s involvement in this medical college. This is the contribution of BJP.”
