Leadership stalemate: Both Congress, BJP delay naming new Himachal chiefs

DHARAMSHALA: Nearly halfway through the current legislative Assembly’s five-year tenure, both the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP in Himachal Pradesh seem to be waiting for the other to make the first move before announcing their new state party presidents. Both parties are grappling with factionalism and internal power struggles.

The situation is particularly challenging for the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), which has been dysfunctional for nearly four months. This follows the dissolution of all its committees by Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge in the last week of November 2024.

Pratibha Singh, the incumbent Himachal Congress president, was the only office-bearer retained by Kharge, while all others were removed, pending the reconstitution of the party’s organisational structure.

Holly Lodge vs Sukhu camp in Congress

The wife of Congress stalwart and six-time Chief Minister late Virbhadra Singh, Pratibha Singh has been serving as the Himachal Congress president since April 2022.

Heading the Holly Lodge (named after her residence) camp, she has been looking to continue on the post even as the main rival group, led by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, would be looking to have its representative at the top.

Amid growing discontent, Himachal ministers Chander Kumar and Dhani Ram Shandil have publicly voiced concerns over the lack of a functional Congress organisation. This compelled the party high command to appoint a new state in-charge, Rajani Patil, who recently concluded a two-day visit to the state to assess the situation and address the party’s internal issues.

Problem of plenty makes things tough in BJP

After a long suspense and organisational elections spanning several months, the Himachal BJP is likely to get its new president anytime soon.

The delay, however, has been quite long as it was expected earlier that the new president would be announced immediately after the Delhi Assembly elections, the results of which were announced on February 8, 2025.

The Himachal BJP is mainly divided in the groups led by Union minister and national BJP president JP Nadda, former Union minister Anurag Thakur and former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur.

Saffron party leaders who are considered frontrunners

Bikram Thakur, Jaswan-Pragpur MLA and former Himachal Pradesh minister for Industry, Transport and Labour and Employment; Sulah MLA Vipin Parmar, who remained the Assembly Speaker, and Kangra MP Dr Rajeev Bhardwaj are among the frontrunners for the post.

Una MLA Satpal Singh Satti, Bilaspur MLA Trilok Jamwal and Rajya Sabha MP Sikander Kumar are also learnt to be in the race. Trilok Jamwal is considered close to Union Health Minister and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda as both belong to Bilaspur.

Though there are speculations that the BJP high command may even consider former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur for the post, analysts opine against this move while arguing that the saffron party would then have to hunt for a new Leader of Opposition.

Jai Ram’s name had emerged following his recent meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the two BJP top guns whose decisions are said to be final for the party.

Sunil Chadha