From student leader to CM: Jai Ram Thakur summits hill state

Himachal Pradesh CM Jai Ram Thakur (Photo: Twitter)


Legislator from Seraj constituency of Mandi district, Jai Ram Thakur, 52, has taken oath as the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.

ALSO READ: Jai Ram Thakur is the new Himachal Chief Minister, says BJP

The defeat of the BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal from Sujanpur opened up the race for the top post in Himachal Pradesh.

Thakur was born in 1965 at Tandi of Mandi district to Jethu Ram Thakur. He is married to Dr Sadhna Thakur and has two daughters.

Thakur is a graduate from Government College, Mandi. He was actively involved in student politics and held post of Himachal ABVP Joint Secretary, 1986; Organising Secretary, ABVP (J-K), 1989-93; State Secretary, Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha; 1993-95; President: State Bharatiya Janata Party Yuva Morcha, ii) BJP District Mandi 2000-03; Vice President State BJP, 2003-05; and state chief of the Bharatiya Janata Party from 2006 to 2009.

Thakur was elected to the state Assembly in 1998; and got re-elected in 2003 and 2007 from Chachiot Assembly Constituency, which after the delimitation has been renamed as Seraj.

Thakur was Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj from 2007-2012.

He was elected to the state Assembly for a consecutive fifth term in December 2017. The results for Himachal elections were declared on 18 December 2017 and BJP won the polls with a comfortable majority. BJP won 44 seats out of 68 constituencies.