 After the sudden death of Jagdev Chand in 1993, Dhumal became active in state politics.He was president of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Himachal Pradesh from 1993 and became the state's Chief Minister in March 1998 after winning the Bamsan constituency of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly with a margin of 18,000 votes.He headed the BJP-Himachal Vikas Congress coalition government for its full statutory term of five years and became Leader of the Opposition when the BJP lost power in 2003, winning only 16 seats despite support from the NDA Union government.