Rajni Patil back as Cong state in-charge, faces challenge of taking all factions along

Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra Rajni Patil has again been appointed the in-charge of Congress affairs in Himachal in place Rajeev Shukla. Rajni (66) has been entrusted the task of the in-charge of party affairs in Himachal for the second time. She is familiar with Himachal’s politics and the Congress’ organisation in the hill state as she had remained the party in-charge here from 2018 to 2020.

She is a seasoned leader and has been a Lok Sabha MP but she faces the challenge of taking along all factions and leaders, especially Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and state Congress president Pratibha Singh. She will have to strike a balance between all senior leaders, ministers and MLAs to forge unity, especially against the backdrop of a revolt by six Congress MLAs in the run up to the Rajya Sabha election in February 2024.

There is complete uncertainty whether Pratibha will be allowed to continue as the HPCC president or will be replaced. The Chief Minister, who had been an arch rival of former Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh, would like to get his own man installed as state party president but eventually the high command would take the final decision.

Rajni has been appointed the party in-charge at a time when the high command had dissolved the Congress units and all committees around three months ago. As such, her appointment has come at a crucial time when the entire party organisation need to be revamped. Also, the panchayat elections are due in November this year, thus necessitating the need to strengthen the party and motivating the cadres.

The delay in the revamp of the party and its various organisational units is causing major concern among senior leaders as well as cadres. Some senior leaders and ministers have expressed their angst over the delay in the revamp of the party setup, especially after the Congress’ debacle in the Delhi Assembly elections.

The resentment over the Congress’ organisation lying defunct is already visible as earlier this week, Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar had said that the party setup was almost paralysed. He added that the party would have to be strengthened at the grass-roots level as putting up candidates when the elections had been announced does not work. Health and Family Welfare Minister Dhani Ram Shandil had echoed similar concerns and stated that it was essential to revamp and strengthen the party.

AICC general secretary KC Venugopal had issued a list of the new party in-charges for nine states, including Himachal, late last night. As per the new appointments made by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rajni would be the in-charge of Chandigarh and Himachal.

Second term

• Rajni Patil, a Rajya Sabha MP from Maharashtra, is familiar with Himachal’s politics and the Congress’ organisation as she had remained the party in-charge here from 2018 to 2020
• She has been appointed the party in-charge at a time when all Congress units and committees were dissolved three months ago