Dr Bindal replaces Suresh Kashyap as Himachal BJP president

Shimla: Just three days after incumbent state BJP President Suresh Kashyap offered his resignation, BJP national president J P Nadda has appointed Dr Rajeev Bindal, a senior party leader as new party chief in Himachal Pradesh, Nadda’s home state.

Dr Bindal returns to the post a second time, three years after he had resigned on moral grounds in the wake of the Congress (then in opposition) charges about his alleged involvement in a medical purchase scam during the BJP rule in 2020.

A five-time MLA Dr Bindal, who had served as Speaker of the state assembly and earlier as state health minister, lost his election from Nahan to Ajay Solanki of the Congress in the 2022 poll.

However, seeing his potential in the organisation, Nadda has reposed his faith in Dr Bindal’s leadership as a step towards BJP’s preparedness for the next year’s Lok Sabha polls.

Born on January 12,1955, Dr Bindal represented Solan Assembly constituency three times consecutively from 2000 – 2012. He was cabinet minister for health and family welfare in Himachal Pradesh government from 2007 to 2012 under Prem Kumar Dhumal.

“Dr Bindal had worked in the organisation and held several key responsibilities. He is gifted with a lot of skills to reach out to the party cadres and take the team along. He is also well versed with IT-enabled mechanisms, use of social media,” a senior BJP vice-President Sanjeev Katwal said.

Alongwith Dr Bindal, the BJP national president has shifted Pawan Rana party general secretary (Organisation) to Delhi and replaced him with his predecessor Siddarthan as new organisational general secretary in Himachal Pradesh.

Rana had been under attack from several BJP leaders after the party’s reversals in the 2022 bypolls including Mandi Lok Sabha and later BJP defeat in the assembly polls reducing the BJP to 25 MLAs in the 68 –member House despite an aggressive campaign on “double engine” slogan.

The outgoing BJP state president Suresh Kashyap, who is also a sitting MP from Shimla, had offered his resignation from the post to Nadda last week. Earlier, he had informed former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur about his move.

He is understood to have asked the party to be relieved from the charge to enable him to focus on his next Lok Sabha election.

Kashyap, who had replaced Dr Bindal in 2022, had been member of the state assembly twice from Pacchad (Sirmaur) and belonged to Dalit community.

The Shimla Municipal corporation  poll slated to happen on May 2, is also a BJP’s test after the congress having captured power in the state four months back.