Is it a balancing act of Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu to placate Kangra sentiment or a bid to engage younger leaders including new MLAs, first-timers, and non-MLAs in the new dispensation? It is a generational change that Congress is seeing in Himachal Pradesh.
These questions have become quite obvious after Sukhu appointed first-time MLA Raghuvir Singh Bali the vice-Chairman HP tourism Development Board and granted him Cabinet rank.
Bali,43, an AICC secretary, who got elected from Nagrota Bhagwan, a constituency his late father G S Bali had represented, is also a Brahmin face. He practically side-steps the ministerial claim of former minister Sudhir Sharma, the Dharamshala MLA, once also seen as the next chief ministerial face during the previous Congress regime led by Virbhadra Singh.
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Even as Kangra, the state’s biggest district with 15 assembly seats, had elected 10 Congress MLAs, it got just one cabinet minister, who happens to be from the OBC community.
Chander Kumar, a Virbhadra Singh loyalist, is a six-time MLA and senior legislator in the House. He holds a portfolio of agriculture and Animal husbandry. He is also a former MP.
When Sukhu formed his cabinet early this month inducting three MLAs from Shimla but just one from Kangra, many spoke about a cabinet highly “imbalanced” and lacking a fair representation of the castes and regions. The allegations were more for Kangra in particular besides Mandi and Bilaspur.
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He was quick to appoint two MLAs, Ashish Butail (Palampur) and Kishori Lal (Baijnath) as Chief Parliamentary secretaries from Kangra.
Yet, the fact remains why there have been representations of the Brahmins or Rajputs from the Kangra district.
The Chief Minister, himself a Rajput, had three choices, Sudhir Sharma, Sanjay Rattan and RS Bali for a Brahmin representation.
Insiders say as Sudhir Sharma dented his image by annoying the party's central leadership. He refused to not contest Dharamshala bypoll in 2019 and later hobnobbed with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and alternatively also with the BJP ahead of the polls. He struggled hard even to get the party ticket but lost a chance to be in the cabinet.
Sanjay Rattan, two-time MLA from Jawalamukhi (Kangra) had been a hardcore Virbhadra Singh loyalist but not Sukhu's favourite. He too lobbied hard for a cabinet berth.
On the other hand, Bali stood by Sukhu in his struggle for the Chief Ministerial post and even lobbied for him with Rahul Gandhi beside several other AICC functionaries.
It’s understood that the young Congress MLA, who won his seat by a record margin banking on the legacy of his late father, secured the cabinet rank, both as a beneficiary of Sukhu’s making to the Chief Ministerial post and proximity with the Congress leadership in Delhi.
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The Chief Minister still has three vacancies in the cabinet and the next expansion could happen anytime to accommodate at least two MLAs from the districts unrepresented so far.
Even before his cabinet formation which got delayed by a month, the Chief Minister had already given cabinet ranks to three party functionaries (all non-MLAs). They include Suneel Sharma, a former district Congress president in Hamirpur and the Chief Minister’s principal political advisor, Naresh Chauhan, former PCC vice-president and Sukhu's principal media advisor while Gukul Butail, who served as an aide to AICC in-charge Rajeev Shukla during state assembly, is now the Principal Advisor (IT and innovations).
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The Chief Minister has also inducted Vikramaditya Singh, 33, youngest congress MLA and son of the former chief minister as minister for Public Works Department (PWD), Youth Services and Sports. Vikramaditya Singh has been allotted key portfolios to give him fine grooming in government affairs.
Other younger MLAs in the cabinet also include Anirudh Singh, a third–time MLA while senior most cabinet minister Col (Rtd) Dhani Ram Shandil,83, a Dalit face is the state’s health minister.
Mukesh Agnihotri, a fifth-term MLA whom the party made Deputy Chief Minister is the only Brahmin face in the cabinet.
There are chances of a few more Congress leaders being appointed as chairmen and vice chairmen of boards and corporations soon to give representation to districts, regions and castes with ranks of cabinet ministers or minister of state in the run-up to the next Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
