Says the party’s Himachal incharge Satyapal Jain, “The formation of the government is not an end of a job for us. It’s rather a beginning. We have already started preparing a road-map for the party for next five years. We will focus on coordination between the party and the government. It will be our mantra in Himachal. Even the next government will be that of BJP, not Congress,” he claims.

Last week’s Cabinet formation and then Vidhan Sabha’s first session, which ended at Dharamshala on Saturday, seems to have set in motion the party’s process of ensuring accountability of the elected representatives. To send the message across, the party has convened a meeting of its working committee in February.

“All ministers and MLAs will be called for the meeting, and will be told to ensure close coordination with workers not only at district level, but also in the constituencies,” Jain said. One of the signals which the party has sent about its move to involve the partymen to keep a close watch on ministers and MLAs, was the non- inclusion of state BJP president Jairam Thakur in the Cabinet.

Although Thakur’s native district Mandi has only one minister in the Cabinet, his name was dropped at the last moment to give continuity to the existing party set up. Senior party leaders did not rule out some changes in the organisation to fill the posts vacated after the induction of some MLAs in the ministry.

Close on the heels of Cabinet formation, some senior leaders who did not contest the elections will be appointed as chairmen and vice-chairmen of boards and corporations. “This process will be taken up by Chief Minister soon,” hinted a Dhumal aide.

A few names going around for such appointments include Rajender Rana, the party’s media incharge; HN Kashyap, a former HAS officer; Khushi Ram Balnataha, the party general secretary who lost to former CM Virbhadra Singh; and Ganesh Dutt.