Hectic lobbying on for Cabinet berths

Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, December 6

The pending expansion of the Himachal Cabinet is giving a tough time to sitting ministers and aspirants in the BJP. Most of them are making rounds in the power corridors of New Delhi and resorting to hectic lobbying to either save their departments or get inducted.

Two Cabinet berths have been lying vacant since the last parliamentary elections. They fell vacant after the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor was elected as Kangra MP and Minister for Power Anil Sharma resigned after his son joined the Congress and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi against the official candidate of the BJP.

It has been six months since the Cabinet berths have fallen vacant. Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was initially delaying the induction of new ministers in the Cabinet on the pretext of the byelections in Dharamsala and Pachhad and then investors’ meet. Sources said the delay was being caused as the Chief Minister was feeling it might create unrest in certain sections of the party. The investors’ meet was organised at Dharamsala on November 7 and 8.

Many aspirants for the Cabinet berths were expecting that the Chief Minister would induct them soon after the meet. However, the decision to expand the cabinet was getting delayed, adding to their agony.

Since the expansion was being delayed, many ministers have been making rounds of the party high command in New Delhi to lobby either for saving their portfolios or getting better ones.

Out of the two ministers to be inducted into the Cabinet after the expansion, one is expected to be from Kangra district as Kishan Kapoor was also from Kangra, a district that has 11 BJP MLAs. Rakesh Pathania, three-time BJP MLA from Nurpur, is being considered a frontrunner for getting inducted into the Cabinet.

The sources said though the Chief Minister was in favour of inducting Pathania, a section of leaders was against the move. Pathania is considered an aggressive and capable leader from Kangra district and many close to the Chief Minister feel that he might overshadow them once he is inducted into the Cabinet.

The sources said strong lobbying was also going on for the induction of Speaker Rajiv Bindal into the Cabinet. Bindal was the health minister in the previous BJP government headed by Prem Kumar Dhumal.

He is considered to have the strong backing of certain RSS leaders.

The stint of present state BJP president Satpal Satti was also coming to an end in December. He is also likely to be replaced by some senior leader from the state BJP. The sources said names of some sitting ministers were also being considered for the post of the state president.

They also said any change in the portfolios or dropping of any ministers was being met with resistance from various groups and factions in the state BJP. They said Cabinet expansion might get delayed till the winter session of the Himachal assembly, which is scheduled to be held from December 9 to 14. The delay is also affecting the functioning of the government as most of the ministers are uncertain about the reshuffle after the induction of new minister and so, are not taking major decisions regarding their departments.

Two berths vacant

Two Cabinet berths have been lying vacant since the last parliamentary elections. They fell vacant after the Minister for Food and Civil Supplies Kishan Kapoor was elected as Kangra MP and Minister for Power Anil Sharma resigned after his son joined the Congress and contested the Lok Sabha elections from Mandi against the official candidate of the BJP.