Virbhadra’s loyalists in Cong office-bearers’ list

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 18

The Congress has finally come out with a jumbo-size list of state office-bearers and executive committee, with a majority of former CM Virbhadra Singh’s loyalists finding a place and sons of almost all senior leaders being accommodated.

HPCC president Kuldeep Rathore announced the much-delayed list after approval from AICC general secretary KC Venugopal late last evening. The list of PCC office-bearers and executive committee members is loaded with loyalists of Virbhadra.

The office-bearers comprise 19 vice-presidents and as many general secretaries, 69 secretaries and a treasurer. The state executive committee has 44 members while there are 15 permanent invitees and 12 spokespersons. The list also has 13 district Congress committee presidents. The fact that almost every leader, even those with no political standing, have been accommodated in the list has reduced its importance.

The HPCC has never had 19 general secretaries and 69 secretaries in the past. Many ‘lightweight’ leaders have been given such prominent positions. Besides young leaders, those who are considered ‘deadwood’ have also been included. While the names of Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha figure in the list of permanent invitees, their son Vikramaditya Singh, MLA from Shimla (Rural), has been made the HPCC general secretary. All former state PCC chiefs and senior leaders such as Anand Sharma, Mukesh Agnihotri, Vidya Stokes, Asha Kumari, Viplove Thakur, Chandresh Kumari, Kaul Singh Thakur, Dhani Ram Shandil, Kuldeep Kumar, Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and GS Bali have been included as permanent invitees.

The sons of many senior leaders such as Virbhadra Singh (Vikramaditya Singh), former minister GS Bali (Raghubir Bali) , former Speaker BBL Butail (Ashish Butail) and Sukh Ram’s grandson (Ashray Sharma) have been appointed general secretaries.

Amit Bharmouri, son of former minister from Chamba Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Vikas Thakur, son of former minister Ram Lal Thakur, Aishwarya Katoch, son of former MP Chandresh Kumari and Aditya Vikram Singh, son of former minister Karan Singh from Kullu, have been made HPCC secretary. Incidentally, in a majority cases both father and son have been included in the list.

The five-member state disciplinary action panel is headed by Solan MLA Dhani Ram Shandil. The other members of the committee are Kangra MLA Pawan Kajal, advocate Sharmila Patial, Chet Ram Thakur and Virender Sood. Former MLA from Bhattiyat in Chamba Kuldeep Pathania has been made chief spokesperson along with 11 others. The district presidents are: Chamba: Neeraj Nayyar, Kangra: Ajay Mahajan, Lahaul-Spiti: Gailsen Thakur, Kullu: Budhi Singh Thakur, Mandi: Prakash Chaudhary, Hamirpur: Rajinder Zaar, Una: Ranjeet Rana, Bilaspur: Anjana Dhiman, Solan: Shiv Kumar, Sirmour: Ajay Bahadur Singh, Shimla (Rural) : Yashwant Chhajta, Shimla (Urban) Jitender Chaudhary and Kinnaur: Umesh Negi.