Thakur Ram Lal

Thakur Ram Lal (7 July 1929 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian politician and a leader of the Indian National Congress from Himachal Pradesh.

Himachal Pradesh
He was elected to the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from the Jubbal-Kotkhai constituency in nine times from 1957 to 1982. He briefly served as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh from 28 January 1977 to 30 April 1977. In the 1977 Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly election, he withstood the anti-Congress wave in elections conducted after The Emergency to win 60.2 percent of the votes in Jubbal-Kotkhai but saw the Congress reduced to 9 seats from the previous 53. He served as the leader of opposition in the legislative assembly from 29 June 1977 to 13 February 1980.

He again became the Chief Minister on 14 February 1980 and remained in office till 7 April 1983. He was forced to resign as chief minister in the aftermath of his son Jagdish Thakur's conviction for timber smuggling in January 1983. Lal's government was accused of soft pedalling against a large-scale illegal lumbering operation run by Jagdish Thakur and Mast Ram Taunta. The Himachal Pradesh state Enforcement Directorate and Himachal Pradesh Police registered more 700 cases of timber smuggling worth over Rs 90 lakh until 31 March 1983.

Governor of Andhra Pradesh
Ram Lal was appointed the Governor of Andhra Pradesh on 15 August 1983. While Chief Minister N. T. Rama Rao of the Telugu Desam Party was in the United States for surgery, he appointed finance minister N. Bhaskara Rao as the chief minister ostensibly at the behest of the leadership of the Congress party despite Bhaskara Rao having the support of no more than 20% of the legislators. On his return, NTR launched a popular campaign against Ram Lal and the Congress Party leading to President Zail Singh to dismiss Ram Lal on 29 August 1984 and NTR being re-appointed the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

Death
Thakur Ram Lal died on 6 July 2002 in Shimla following a massive cardiac arrest. He was survived by four daughters, a son and grandson and a granddaughter, two great granddaughters and one great grandson.

His grandson, Rohit Thakur is an MLA from Jubbal-Kotkhai.