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Journalism of Courage
Considered close to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Prem Kumar Dhumal, who is set to become Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister for a second time, has demonstrated that he has come out of the shadow of his mentor and veteran party leader Shanta Kumar.
Popularly known as “sadak wala mukhya mantri” for a number of road projects he took up in Himachal during his previous tenure, Dhumal became the chief minister for the first time in 1998.
This time he was locked in a contest with his schoolmate Col B C Lagwal from the Bamson assembly seat, and he scored a hat trick.
Party sources say when Narendra Modi was the party in- charge of Himachal Pradesh from 1997 to 2001 he did not enjoy the best of relations with Shanta Kumar, a factor that helped Dhumal to rise in the state politics.
Kumar had further distanced himself from Modi after his attack on the Gujarat Chief Minister at a party forum post-2004 parliamentary defeat of the BJP.
Dhumal has also been elected Lok Sabha MP thrice from Hamirpur (including the present tenure).
A law graduate and former English professor in Punjab University, the 63-year-old Dhumal belongs to Samirpur village of Hamirpur district. When BJP lost power in 2003, Dhumal became the leader of the legislature party in the Assembly.
