From managing the COVID -19 crisis, bringing back 2.50 lakh Himachalis, mostly students stranded in other state during the pandemic, and facilitating the safe return of thousands of youths employed in private companies in the metropolitan towns, first-time Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur,55, is now talking about revival of tourism, industry and the state’s apple economy. Gentle and soft-spoken, Thakur fights a faction-ridden and ‘leaderless’ Congress and tries to keep a balance between the government and “Sangathan”( the party)—led by J P Nadda, BJP’s national president, once himself a chief ministerial aspirant in the state. Ashwani Sharma spoke at length with Jai Ram Thakur in Shimla .