Rohit, Butail enter the fray for HPCC prez’s post

The list of potential candidates for the post of Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president is getting longer. The names of Education Minister Rohit Thakur and Ashish Butail, the two-time MLA from Palampur, cropped up for the post in the meeting of the state party leaders with All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday.

Sources said the Education Minister had agreed to take the post if offered to him on certain conditions. Butail said that he was open to take any responsibility the party would offer him. “I come from a family that has been associated with the party since long. I will accept whatever responsibility the party wants me to shoulder, whether it comes with a post or without it,” said Butail.

The others in the fray for the post include former HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore, Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar and Vinod Sultanpuri. Current HPCC president Pratibha Singh could continue if the stalemate over the post continues. “A few names were discussed but everyone felt that the responsibility should be given to some strong leader. A lightweight on this post would not be good for the party,” the sources said.

Incidentally, Pratibha Singh and PWD Minister Vikramaditya Singh have spoken in the past about having a leader of tall stature as the party president, not a rubber stamp. “This point was put forward during the meeting with Kharge and Gandhi by most state leaders, and later in one-to-one meetings with Rajni Patil, the AICC in-charge for Himachal,” the sources said.

If the Education Minister agrees to become the party president and quits as minister, it will open up a vacancy in the Cabinet to accommodate someone from the under-represented constituency. The speculation of dropping a minister from the Shimla parliamentary constituency, which has five ministers, to address the regional imbalance in the Cabinet keeps surfacing time and again. Whether it actually happens this time remains to be seen.

Besides, it has been nine months since the HPCC was dissolved. Having no organisation in the state for such a long time has caused a lot of resentment among the leaders and rank and file of the party. The organisation will be revived only after the party high command finalises the name of the state president.

“It’s beyond us why the leadership is taking so much time to name the president and reconstitute the district and block committees. This delay and indecisiveness will dent the party’s interest in the state in the long run,” said a district-level party leader.