P K Dhumal: The BJP's face for Himachal Pradesh

The decision to name Dhumal was taken late into the campaign - and has certainly boosted morale, especially in some regions

Former Union minister and Himachal Pradesh chief minister (CM) Shanta Kumar’s ambivalent reaction, to the news that Prem Kumar Dhumal will be CM if their Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is able to form a government from the 68-member legislature after the coming election, is rooted in history.  Kumar was the Cabinet minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government, when the Gujarat riots took place. When reporters asked Kumar what he thought, his answer was to repeat Vajpayee’s observations about Raj Dharma.

This, in turn, had a history. As a party general secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh in 1997, Narendra Modi