Six-time MLA and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was, on Sunday, unanimously elected as the Leader of Opposition of the newly-elected Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly. All 24 BJP MLAs proposed his name for the post in the BJP Legislature Party meeting held at Willy Park here on Sunday.

BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, who was the Central observer, state unit president Suresh Kashyap, Himachal in-charge Avinash Rai Khanna, co-in-charge Sanjay Tandon and Mangal Pandey were also present in the meeting. Thakur had contested elections from Seraj Assembly constituency and won with the highest margin.

Talking to media persons, Mangal Pandey confirmed Jai Ram Thakur as the Leader of Opposition and said that his name was proposed by all 24 MLAs including Vipin Parmar, Satpal Satti, Balbir Verma and Dr Janak Raj.

Pandey said that Thakur did good work while heading the previous government and under his supervision the BJP would now counter the Congress government.

After his election, Jai Ram Thakur held a meeting of the MLAs and discussed the strategy for the winter session. Thakur said that many important issues were discussed in the meeting and the future strategy of the Legislature Party was also discussed in detail.

There was also a discussion on how BJP MLAs would corner the Congress leaders and their anti-people decisions. Later the BJP leaders along party workers submitted a memorandum to the Governor Rajinder Vishvanath Arlekar on anti-people decisions of the Congress government which includes de-notifying of the institutions opened by the previous government.

Thakur while talking to media said: “De-notifying the functional institutions by the Congress government is illegal. They can review but not close institutions. We have also submitted a memorandum to the governor.”

The closure of two cement plants in the state has resulted in the loss of 30,000 direct and indirect employment, he said, adding that all developmental works have also come to a standstill. He took a jibe at the Congress government for not being able to form the Cabinet even after the lapse of 14 days.