Munish Sood
MANDI:
Himachal Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri’s response during a press briefing in Mandi on Friday (October 3, 2025) on the reinstatement of retired Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena as the Chairman of HP State Electricity Board in the same rank and status as his previous posting has sparked fresh political debate in the hill state.
Questioned by The Newz Radar why the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government continued to grant repeated extensions to IAS officer Prabodh Saxena and whether the government cannot function without him, Agnihotri gave a reply that took many by surprise.
At first, the Deputy Chief Minister rebuked this correspondent for the very question, saying: “Being a senior journalist, you should know yourself which questions should be asked to whom.”
When this correspondent pressed further pointing out that Agnihotri was the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, he replied: “I have my own departments, I can only speak about them, not about the rest.”
Agnihotri was then asked “wasn’t he part of the government?” To this, he replied: “Can you answer the questions that are meant to be asked to your editor?”
A political analyst said the reply probably meant the Deputy Chief Minister wasn’t taken into confidence by Chief Minister Sukhu while assigning the new role to Saxena, whose six-month extension as the Chief Secretary ended on September 30, 2025, as the electricity board Chairman. The analyst said Agnihotri could also have meant that the department to which Saxena was appointed was outside his jurisdiction. The analyst also said the reply could indicate underlying friction between Chief Minister Sukhu and Agnihotri.
Agnihotri remained the Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Vidhan Sabha in the previous BJP tenure, but lost the CM race to Sukhu when the Congress won the Assembly elections. He is the first Deputy Chief Minister in Himachal’s history and enjoys a good rapport with the high command.
An MLA from Haroli in Una district, Agnihotri stands as one of the most prominent Congress faces in Himachal Pradesh. Known for his strong connect with the public, he commands respect across the state and has long been associated with the Virbhadra Singh camp. Chief Minister Sukhu, on the other hand, has maintained a calculated distance from that faction.
At times, Agnihotri has even expressed his unease indirectly on social media, though he usually maintains silence under party discipline and high command pressure.
