Cong in-charge Rajni Patil to visit state next month

Rajni Patil, newly appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for party affairs in Himachal, will visit the state in the first week of March. In all probability, the process to reconstitute the dissolved Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) will pick up pace after her visit. It has been three and a half months since AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge dissolved the HPCC and other party units, right up to the block level. Congress workers as well as a couple of ministers have expressed their displeasure over the delay in the reconstitution of the HPCC.

Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh said that Rajni would visit the state in the first week of March and he had urged her to reconstitute the HPCC at the earliest. “We have urged her to reconstitute the HPCC as soon as possible so that the stalled organisational work can be resumed to strengthen the party,” he added.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy Minister Mukesh Agnihotri and Vikramaditya have met Rajni in Delhi after her appointment as the state in-charge. HPCC president Pratibha Singh is also likely to meet her in the next couple of days. In the run-up to the reconstitution of the HPCC, leaders are likely to lobby with her to have their confidants on key positions in the state body. The biggest question, though, is will Pratibha Singh continue as the HPCC president or she will be replaced.