Factionalism in the BJP, in addition to local issues, seemed to have defeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s effort to pull off a victory in Himachal Pradesh by seeking votes in his name like in Gujarat, according to party insiders.

The final results showed that the BJP lost all five Assembly segments falling under the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency represented by Union minister for information and broadcasting and sports Anurag Singh Thakur.

Himachal is also the home state of BJP president J.P. Nadda.

Though the party managed to win all three Assembly segments in Nadda’s home district Bilaspur with narrow margins, questions rose over the party boss’s failure to end factionalism in his state that led to a large-scale rebellion.

As many as 21 BJP rebels contested the polls as Independents and spoilt the party’s chances of emerging victorious in close contests.

In the 68-member Assembly, the BJP won only 25 seats while the Congress bagged 40 seats and Independents three. The difference in the vote share between the two parties, however, was less than 1 per cent.

Thakur’s case was widely discussed in Parliament corridors a day after the results.

The loss in all the seats under his Lok Sabha constituency has shocked many BJP MPs since he is a four-term MP from Hamirpur.

Thakur had hit national and international headlines for leading a crowd at a BJP campaign during the last Delhi Assembly polls to chant “Desh ke gaddaron ko, goli maaro saalon ko (Those who have been traitors to the nation, shoot them dead)”. The slogan was aimed at anti-Citizenship Amendment Act protesters.

He is a prominent political dynast from the hill state — son of former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, a BJP stalwart pushed to the margins after the 2017 Assembly polls.

Dhumal was the BJP’s chief ministerial face in 2017 but lost from Sujanpur. Party insiders had then indicated that “internal sabotage” had defeated Dhumal to put him out of the chief ministerial race.

The central leadership then picked a new face, Jairam Thakur, to be the chief minister, overruling Dhumal’s dislike for him, sources said.

When the Jairam Thakur government was defeated on Thursday, the BJP lost the Sujanpur seat to the Congress by just 399 votes.

BJP insiders indicated at “factional rivalry” as one of the reasons for the defeat, not only in Sujanpur but the four other Assembly segments under the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Four of the five segments were bagged by the Congress and 1 by an Independent.

The insiders hinted that Dhumal was keen to contest the Assembly polls from Sujanpur this time but was not given a ticket, citing the current BJP’s unofficial retirement age of 75. Dhumal is 78. Officially, however, Dhumal claimed he had chosen to retire from active politics.

“Dhumalji wanted to contest the polls only to overcome the emotional hurt he had felt after losing Sujanpur, a constituency he had nursed. He wanted to retire as a winner from Sujanpur,” a leader close to him said.

His son, Anurag Thakur, had while campaigning in Sujanpur turned teary-eyed and choked many times, recalling how his father had toiled for the party.

Sources said that Thakur had also nursed the desire to become chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and carry forward his father’s legacy but was rebuffed by the top leadership.

“Factional rivalry did play a role in the defeat,” a BJP leader said, pointing out that Himachal is known for a “rift between supporters of Nadda and those of Dhumal”.

“It seems the rift played out in the elections and defeated Modiji’s hard work,” the leader added.