a mid-night call by Sonia Gandhi’semissary in August has ultimately paid off for both. Prior to that, as many as 52 visits by Virbhadra, also known as ‘Raja’ of Bushair, to Delhi protesting against his marginalization in Congress did not yield any fruit. But thanks to the visit by an emissary at such unearthly hours, things have changed.

The emissary finally persuaded the veteran leader to meet Sonia Gandhi. The grapevine is, he was getting marginalized by his bête noire Anand Sharma, a Manmohan Singh protégé and the Commerce Minister, who despite his limitation at the ground level, wanted to make a bid for chief minister ship. Now the rest, as they say is history.

The Congress has won 36 out of the total 68 seats, while the ruling BJP though put up a stiff fight under the leadership of outgoing chief minister P K Dhumal (and to an extent his son Anurag Kashyap, MP)  managed to get only 26. The others have won six seats. Thus, there was merit in the five-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s oneliner that, “in Himachal, I am the face of the party”. As we go to the press, now the ball in Sonia Gandhi’s court is to finally name Vorbhadra as the next chief minster. On the other hand, the hyped corruption card against Congress and personally against Virbhadra failed to yield any dividend to BJP.  Of course, theoretically, the BJP were underdogs as the hill state has a tradition of throwing out incumbent government out of power every five year since 1977.

Himachal Pradesh Facto - pedia Area       –    55, 673 km2 (21, 495 sq.mi) Capital                     –    Shimla Districts                   –    12 nos. Population (2011)    –    6, 856, 509.

However, the BJP’s outgoing chief minister Dhumal banking on nationwide campaign on LPG gas cylinders cap against the Congress as well as corruption charges against had hoped to break that tradition.

He also tried to repeat Narendra Modi’s ‘pro-development and performer’ card. Thus, came in the slogan: “Bhrastachaar mukt, vikas yukt (corruption free and development). But the results would leave Dhumal and BJP disappointed.

Well, that’s not all in the parable. Stunned by the results, party’s chief strategist Arun Jaitley attributed internal rebellion for the debacle. “The rebellion in the party could be a factor in BJP’s defeat. The defeat is more on account of the BJP’s internal troubles than a vote in favor of Congress”.

The party sources indicate that Dhumal’s traditional clash with legendary Shanta Kumar, also a former chief minister, was another factor, and crucial one.

BJP’s poor show in Kangra — the stronghold of Shanta Kumar tells the story. The saffron party lost 9 out of the 15 seats in Kangra, two out of four seats in Manali, four out of 10 seats in Mandi and one each in Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts.

“In earlier instances, the ruling party used to get much more hammering,”

An analysis of the poll results also confirms that BJP and its rebel nominees put together polled more votes than Congress in many seats. For instance, former BJP leader Manohar Dhiman won Indora as the BJP fell short of Congress by 2,431 votes. Suspended BJP MP Rajan Sushant’s wife Sudha Sushant secured 9,335 votes in Fatehpur, which Congress won by 7,217 votes.

Former Minister and ex-BJP leader Roop Singh polled 15,268 votes in Sundernagar seat of Mandi district causing BJP’s defeat by 12,182 votes.

Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh from 1952 to till date
Sr.no	Chief Ministers Name	Took Office	Left Office	Party Name
1	Yashwant Singh Parmar	03/08/52	10/31/56	Indian National Congress
2	President's Rule	10/31/56	07/01/63
3	Yashwant Singh Parmar	07/01/63	01/28/77	Indian National Congress
4	Thakur Ram Lal	01/28/77	04/30/77	Indian National Congress
5	Shanta Kumar	06/22/77	02/14/80	Janata Party
6	Thakur Ram Lal	02/14/80	04/07/83	Indian National Congress
7	Virbhadra Singh	04/08/83	03/08/85	Indian National Congress
8	Virbhadra Singh	03/08/85	03/05/90	Indian National Congress
9	Shanta Kumar	03/05/90	12/03/93	Janata Party
10	Virbhadra Singh	12/03/93	03/28/93	Indian National Congress
11	Prem Kumar Dhumal	03/24/98	03/05/03	Bharatiya Janata Party
12	Virbhadra Singh	03/06/03	12/30/07	Indian National Congress
13	Prem Kumar Dhumal	12/30/07	24/12/12	Bharatiya Janata Party
14	Virbhadra Singh	25/12/12	Rullimg	Indian National Congress

The party leadership is now likely to review the results and take some steps. “There’s no hurry, we have enough time,” a key party leader told Eastern Panorama.

BJP’s poor show in Kangra — the stronghold of Shanta Kumar tells the story. The saffron party lost 9 out of the 15 seats in Kangra, two out of four seats in Manali, four out of 10 seats in Mandi and one each in Hamirpur and Bilaspur districts.

But the party insiders still maintain unlike the past the difference between the winning side and the losing side is not much. “In earlier instances, the ruling party used to get much more hammering,” he said alluding to 26 seats victory as against 36 by Congress, which is only a wafer-thin majority.

Importantly, for BJP keen to wrest power in New Delhi, the disappointment at the results only get reflected more as with its exit from the corridors of power in Himachal Pradesh, the erosion of support base is nearly completed in northern India. Only in Punjab, it now shares power with dominant Akali Dal.

Curiously, BJP’s ally Shiv Sena has expressed surprise at the saffron party’s defeat in Himachal.”BJP must do its introspection. But I think for the opposition parties in general, the Himachal poll results throw some questions. I am surprised the way Congress could win the elections as there were serious corruption charges against Congress leader Virbhadra Singh and others,” Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut said wondering perhaps whether corruption card is not saleable politically.