Former chief minister and six-time legislator Jai Ram Thakur was named the leader of the BJP legislative party on Sunday. The Indian National Congress wrested Himachal Pradesh from the BJP in the November state polls after winning 40 seats in the 68-member assembly. The then incumbent BJP won 25 seats and three went to Independents.

Thakur was unanimously elected as all the 24 BJP MLAs proposed his name for the post, senior party leader and head of the election management committee Mangal Pandey said. A meeting of the BJP MLAs was held in Shimla and was attended by Thakur, state BJP chief Suresh Kashyap, state BJP in-charge and co-incharge Avinash Rai Khanna and Sanjay Tandon, and central observer Vinod Tawda.

In the recently concluded polls, Thakur won from Seraj with the highest margin.

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Jai Ram Thakur served as the state BJP President and was the cabinet minister in the former BJP government. He served as the Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Minister from 2010 to 2012 in Prem Kumar Dhumal’s cabinet.

He has also worked as Vice Chairman of the State Civil Supplies Corporation and as the President of Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha.

Jai Ram Thakur rose to be the chief minister in 2017 when the BJP won the assembly polls. In 2017, outgoing CM Prem Kumar Dhumal lost his seat which paved the way for the rise of Jai Ram Thakur.