13 Palampur councillors urge CM to induct Butail into Cabinet

Thirteen councilors — Gopal Nag, Anish Nag, Sanjay Rathore, Radha Sood, Poonam Bali, Raj Kumar, Shashi Dimple, Indu Bala, Nisha, Neelam Malik, Vinay Kapoor and Dilbag Singh — of the Palampur Municipal Council today urged Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to induct Palampur MLA Ashish Butail into the Cabinet.

Addressing mediapersons here today, Mayor Gopal Nag said Ashish Butail is the senior most Congress MLA from Kangra and should be inducted into the Cabinet as the Chief Minister had hinted for the expansion of his Cabinet soon.

He said even the BJP wave in 2017, Butail was elected to the Assembly with a large number of votes. In 2022, he defeated state BJP general secretary Trilok Kapoor with a margin of 6,800 votes. He also served as the CPS for two years and had quit the office after the recent HP High Court judgement.

He said, “The Butail family had always remained loyal to the Congress party. In 1968, when there was a split in Congress, Butail’s uncle Kunj Behari Lal Butail, who was the PCC president, supported Indira Gandi. His father dominated the Kangra politics for three decades, who served as an MLA, minister and the Assembly Speaker.”