As chief minister of Himachal, its massive phone tapping scandal took place, where phones of over 1100 civilians were illegally recorded, where permission was only taken for around 170 phones. BJP's Shanta Kumar also requested to disclose names of people whose phones were tapped during Dhumal's tenure.[1]
He headed the BJP-Himachal Vikas Congress coalition government for its full statutory term of five years, from 1998 to 2003[5] and became Leader of the Opposition when the BJP lost power in the 2003 elections,[5][4] winning only 16 seats despite support from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Union government.[6]
His tenure as the chief minister saw significant infrastructure developments, particularly of roads, and gave rise to Dhumal being called the Sadak walla Chief Minister.[4]
Dhumal resigned his seat in the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly upon winning the Hamirpur constituency in a 2007 by-election for the Lok Sabha.[2] The by-election came about because of the expulsion of Suresh Chandel, a BJP Member of Parliament who had been involved in a cash-for-questions scandal.[4][7] A further by-election in May 2008 saw Dhumal replaced as MP by his son, Anurag Thakur.[8]
In the state assembly elections of 2017, Dhumal stood as a BJP candidate in the Sujanpur constituency and was the party's proposed candidate for the Chief Ministerial office. Even though the BJP gained majority in the elections, Dhumal lost to Rajinder Rana from the Indian National Congress, thwarting his chances to lead the government for the third time in Himachal Pradesh.[11]
Personal interests
He has written large number of articles which have been published in different leading newspapers on political, cultural, sports and other national issues from time to time and he was the general secretary of the Doaba College literary society and editor of college magazine.[2] His social and cultural interests include helping the poor sections of the society in getting good education free of cost or at cheaper cost and helping the poorer sections of society in getting their daughters married.[2] He has special interest in the field of rural development, employment generation, involvement of youth in constructive work and activities, development of tourism, Hydel power in the state, inspire agriculturists to switch over to horticulture, floriculture and heliculture so that they can increase their income.[2] He has interest in reading and listening to good music in free time. He had also been captain of the college volleyball team for three consecutive years and played it up to his university level.
