His political career began in 1963 when he was elected as a Panch in the
Gram panchayat for Garhjamula. He was subsequently elected as a member of the Panchayat Samiti in
Bhawarna and then was president of
Zilla Parishad in Kangra from 1965 to 1970. He was elected to the
Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly in 1972. He remained a member till 1985. He was re-elected to the House again in 1990 and continued till 1992. He became the
Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh in 1977. He had enforced "No Work, No Pay" policy during his second term as Chief Minister for strongly dealing with the striking government employees. He was elected to the
9th Lok Sabha in 1989 from
Kangra. He was re-elected twice in 1998 and 1999. He was a senior minister in the
Atal Bihari Vajpayee government from 1999 to 2004. He was Union Minister of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution from 1999 to 2002 and Union Minister of Rural Development from 2002 to 2004. In 2014, he was elected to the
16th Lok Sabha from Kangra. In 2014-15 he chaired a committee on the restructuring of the
Food Corporation of India (FCI). He was potential candidate for governorship, but not yet appointed since 2014. He has been known for appreciating
Aam Aadmi Party's work on Government Schools' transformation in Delhi and his expression of sympathy towards
Manish Sisodia and other AAP leaders in 2024, terming them as "not personally corrupt". ==Personal background==