The BJP Central Election Committee’s decision to clear Anurag Thakur’s name for the next Lok Sabha elections from Hamirpur has given Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal a boost to prepare for the polls in Himachal Pradesh.

Thakur, Dhumal’s son and Himachal Cricket Association president, won the Lok Sabha by-election in Hamirpur a month back with an impressive victory margin of 1.74 lakh. Dhumal had vacated the seat after he was elected Chief Minister. “It’s a big honour for Himachal Pradesh and also Anurag Thakur, who has been chosen as a candidate months ahead of the poll. This has given a headstart to the party in a state already going with the BJP,” Dhumal said in his first reaction to the news about his son’s candidature.

Contacted over the phone, Anurag Thakur said, “I don’t know how to react to this honour given to me by the party high command. I am committed to dedicating myself to the people of my constituency, as well as the party.”

Only last week, the BJP held a three-day conclave at Manali as part of its preparations for the Lok Sabha polls. The party had won only one seat—-Hamirpur—in the 2004 polls, but this time, it has set its sights on all four.

Asked when the party would finalise the other three candidates for the elections, Khushi Ram Balnatah, state BJP general secretary, said, “Much before the Congress. The party will use all its strengths to see that Himachal elects all four MPs from the BJP.”