Himachal Pradesh CM attends Prem Kumar Dhumal's 50th wedding anniversary

SHIMLA: Brushing aside the allegations that former chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal has been neglected by his own state government, chief minister Jai Thakur along with his almost entire cabinet attended the 50th wedding anniversary of

Dhumal

at Hamirpur on Monday.

Jai Ram Thakur while congratulating Dhumal and his wife Sheela Dhumal also touched their feet as a mark of respect towards the elderly couple.

For the last four and half years, there were speculations that Dhumal has been sidelined in the state after change of guard in 2017, but a complete different picture emerged in Hamirpur on Monday.

In 2017 assembly election, Dhumal was the chief ministerial face but he lost from Sujanpur assembly seat and Jai Ram Thakur became the chief minister. As BJP has given the slogan of “Mission Repeat” for 2022 assembly, it could become possible only with the active support of Dhumal who like former chief minister late Virbhadra Singh of Congress holds considerable clout among voters across state.

For the 50th wedding anniversary of Dhumal, barring two ministers, entire cabinet was present. Jai Ram Thakur had reached NIT Hamirpur by helicopter at around 12:30 pm where he was received by his cabinet colleagues, MLAs and other party leaders. After resting for a while at Circuit House where he also listened to public grievances, chief minister headed for the venue.

Cabinet ministers including Vikram Singh and Rakesh Pathania, State BJP general secretary (organisation) Pawan Rana, former minister Ravindra Ravi, local MLAs Narendra Thakur and Kamlesh Kumari along with the chief minister were escorted to the stage by Union minister Anurag Thakur himself.

While interacting with media persons at the NIT helipad, Jai Ram Thakur said that former chief minister Prof Prem

Kumar Dhumal

is their respected and senior leader and they will always respect him. He said that what Congress leader Sukhivender Singh Sukhu is saying is beyond our comprehension. Chief minister said that as soon as he got the information about the 50th wedding anniversary of Prem Kumar Dhumal, he postponed the scheduled programs and fixed the meeting of the state cabinet to be held on Monday for May 26.

He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has immense love for the people of Himachal Pradesh, so the program of completion of eight year of the central government is going to be held in Shimla on May 31. He said that the second big program which is meeting of chief secretaries has also been scheduled to be held in Dharamsala on June 15 and 16 in which Prime Minister is also participating.