Vidhan Sabha Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar appointed Himachal Congress president

Deputy Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Vinay Kumar today tendered his resignation and was appointed the next Himachal Pradesh Congress president.

The tenure of incumbent state Congress president Pratibha Singh was already over.

Vinay is a three-time MLA from Renuka Assembly constituency in Sirmaur district. He belongs to the reserved category and the party high command has tried to woo a major vote bank of the Dalits, who constitute more than 25 per cent of the population.

Both the high command as well as Chief Minsiter Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu were keen to appoint a Dalit leader as the state party chief.

Earlier this month, Congress president Mallikaarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi had interviewed six leaders for the post of state party chief. Those who were shortlisted included Education Minsiter Rohit Thakur, Theog MLA and former Congress president Kuldeep Rathore, Vinay Kumar, Bhoranj MLA Suresh Kumar, Palampur MLA Ashish Butail and Kasauli MLA Vinod Sultanpuri.

The entire Congress organisation was lying defunct as all state, district and block level bodies and frontal organisations had been dissolved on November 6, 2025. With Vinay’s appointment, it is expected that the organisation will be revamped.