Nadda confidant Rajeev Bindal returns as Himachal BJP chief

New Delhi, April 23

The BJP on Sunday appointed former Himachal Pradesh health minister Rajeev Bindal the new president of the state unit replacing Suresh Kashyap.

Bindal, a five-term ex-MLA from Nahan in Sirmaur district, has served as state chief in the past.

In the last assembly election Bindal lost to Congress party’s Ajay Solanki by a little over 1,600 votes.

Importantly, the BJP has replaced Kashyap, whose home also falls in Sirmaur’s Pachad with a leader of the same district.

The BJP had suffered a setback in Sirmaur in the 2022 assembly poll losing three of the five segments.

Bindal, a confidant of BJP chief JP Nadda, had been elected state chief in 2020 also but had resigned following a Heath department scam.

Bindal had been elected state chief in January 18, 2020 after he resigned as Himachal Assembly speaker.

The return of Bindal is a clear indication of Nadda’s continued influence over party affairs in Himachal.

He comes in a crucial election year and would be expected to galvanise the party for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls besides plugging gaps that caused a saffron defeat in the last assembly polls and led to the victory of Congress which won the first state on its own in nearly two years.