'Trailing' Dhumal says victory and loss is part of politics

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief ministerial candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal on Monday said victory and loss is a part of politics after he suffered a personal set back as Congress candidate Rajinder Rana was set to defeat him from Sujanpur constituency.

Dhumal told media, "Personal loss is not of much importance. The gain that victory has brought to state BJP is important. I'm thankful to the people of the state for voting for BJP."

"In politics, sometimes one wins, sometimes one loses. I was not expecting to lose, I will do an analysis," he added.

On being asked about the possibility of him being anointed as the chief minister, Dhumal said, "I will wait and see."

At the time of filing this report, Dhumal got nearly 18,000 votes and his Congress rival Rana secured over 21,000 votes.

The BJP had a successful day today as the counting of votes for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh elections revealed that the saffron party was all set to form a majority government in both the states.

The BJP has won 36 seats and was leading in eighty seats, while the Congress won 19 seats and was leading in 21 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Assembly.

Dhumal first became the vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) in 1982. In 1984, he was selected as the candidate for the Hamirpur parliamentary constituency. He was finally elected as the MP from Hamirpur in 1989 and 1991.

He has twice been Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh from March 1998 to March 2003 and again from January 1, 2008 to December 25, 2012.