Ministers not keen to quit Cabinet, wait for new Cong prez continues

A decision on the name of the new state Congress president is still awaited with most of the ministers and senior leaders being reluctant to quit the Cabinet and take up the organisational responsibility.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Public Works Minister Vikramaditya Singh and other senior leaders met the central leadership on the issue of naming the new Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president in New Delhi earlier this week. The possibility of Pratibha Singh, the present state Congress president and wife of Virbhadra Singh, continuing as the president cannot be ruled.

Sources said the party high command is keen to appoint a leader from the reserved category as the president to woo the people from this community. As such the names of Ayurveda Minister Yadvinder Goma, deputy speaker Vinay Kumar, MLAs Vinod Sultanpuri and Suresh Kumar are doing the rounds. The high command had dissolved all the state party units and all the bodies at the district and block level.

Sukhu is learnt to be backing the candidature of Sultanpuri, MLA from Kasauli or Suresh Kumar, MLA from Bhoranj in Hamirpur, home district of the CM. Agnihotri is keen to see Vinay Kumar being appointed as the state president.

Former state Congress president Kuldeep Rathore is also being considered a strong contender for being appointed as the state president. He is presently the MLA from Theog in Shimla district and enjoys wide acceptability. Moreover, Rathore has a long experience of having been associated with Youth Congress and NSUI for a very long period.

Goma, also from the reserved category, is reluctant to quit the ministerial berth to be able to take up the party responsibility. Similarly, the name of another minister Anirudh Singh as state president was also doing the rounds but he too laid down the condition that he was willing to assume the responsibility provided he is allowed to keep the ministerial berth. However, the high command is adverse to such a proposition.

Vinay, who was summoned by the high command, has been camping in New Delhi for the last three days. He was due to meet Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge today but since he had to go to Ahmedabad, the meeting is yet to take place. Party sources said that Vinay, a third-term MLA, who has earlier remained state Congress Working President too, is not keen to quit as Deputy Speaker.

The fate of Pratibha Singh also remains uncertain even though Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has said that he is not averse to her continuation as the Congress president. Vikramaditya Singh, PWD Minister and son of Pratibha Singh, has in the recent past said that a person who has a tall stature and influence in few districts should be appointed the Congress chief.

Himachal Tribune