HP: Senior Congressmen look for creamy seats in Cabinet

Dharamsala, December 30, 2012: After the allocation of the Portfolios of the ministers in Himachal Pradesh (HP), the resentment of the public has started in the unrepresented areas where the Congress MLAs had majority to dethrone the BJP government, particularly in districts of Mandi, Kullu and Palampur sub division of the Kangra District.

CM Vir Bhadra Singh has already indicated that, the two vacant posts of the ministers shall be filled soon, probably before four days of assembly session starting on January 8 next at Dharsamsala.

It has been reliably learnt that the two ministers  likely to be inducted are Anil Sharma from Mandi and Karan Singh from Kullu. Besides this, a bunch of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs) and Parliamentary Secretaries (PSs) are likely to be inducted to accommodate newly elected Congress legislators.

But this does not satisfy the public of Palampur area, which has not been given a proper place in the Cabinet. The Congress had won all four seats in the area, which has a population of about 7 lakh. Brij Behari Lal Butail won from Palampur by 9,000 votes, Kishori Lal from Baijnath by 7,000 votes, Yadvender Gomma from Jaisinghpur by 9,400 votes and Jagjivan Pal won from Sullah by 5,000 votes. None of them has been given a Cabinet berth.

Residents are shocked that none of the four legislators have been inducted in the Cabinet despite the big victory of the Congress in the area. Kangra has given 10 Congress legislators out of 15, causing major hurdle in repetition of the Dhumal government. Though three ministers from Kangra District (GS Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania and Sudhir Sharma) were included in the Cabinet, but the non inclusion of six-time legislator BBL Butail in the Cabinet frustrated the public of Palampur. Palampur is the home town of BJP national senior vice president and former HP CM, Shanta Kumar. BJP had three seats from the area including a ministerial birth in the dissolved Assembly while one was with the Congress from this area.

Beside the two vacant posts in the ministry, Dharamsala ‘Vidhan Sabha’s sitting  shall also elect the Speaker and Deputy Speaker of 12th Vidhan Sabha.  

The Himachal Chief Minister has also hinted that his Cabinet has the representation of all corners with a perfect blend of experience and youth so that young legislators be groomed to take on the responsibility in the near future.

He hinted that he would relinquish the post of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee chief shortly so that someone else could be given the responsibility of taking care of the party organisation. That means that there is still wide scope for Congress MLAs to get their deserved seats.

Meanwhile the portfolios of the newly inducted ministers was issued and the ministers  Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, GS Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania, Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Prakash Chaudhary, and Dhani Ram Shandil  assumed their work.