Protege Rana turns tables on mentor Dhumal

SUJANPUR: Rajinder

Rana

learned the tricks of political survival from one of BJP’s tallest leaders in Himachal, former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal. On Monday, Rana turned the tables on his one-time mentor and beat Dhumal in

Sujanpur

by around 2,900 votes, triggering the biggest upset of this election in the hill state.

By beating BJP’s chief ministerial face in the middle of a saffron wave, Rana has gone from being a lightweight to a giant killer in a matter of hours. “I had full faith in the voters. Sujanpur has been my karmabhoomifor more than a decade. There was no way I could have lost,” he said.

Rana has the reputation of a do-gooder in the area, having sponsored weddings of young girls and attending every function to which he has been invited.

“Ahead of the election, I had asked Dhumalji to reconsider his decision of fighting from Sujanpur and, instead, contest from Hamirpur, where he had worked hard in the last few years. But he did not pay heed. He is my elder. I will seek his blessings when I meet him,” said Rana. “Despite being CM twice, Dhumal could not initiate many development projects.”

Rana parted ways with Dhumal after BJP denied him a ticket in the 2012 state polls. He contested as an Independent and defeated BJP candidate from Sujanpur, Anita Verma, by 14,000 votes. Realising his potential, former Congress CM Virbhadra Singh recommended Rana’s name as a candidate against Dhumal’s son Anurag Thakur in Hamirpur in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He lost the seat but his willingness to take on Dhumal made him a darling with Virbhadra.

“Having been in the BJP, I know how they get things done,” he says when asked how he would be able to come up to the expectation of his supporters.