Bindal takes charge as HP BJP chief
SHIMLA: Former Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha speaker Rajeev Bindal on Saturday was formally declared as the chief of Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) state unit.
The announcement was made by national BJP secretary Sunil V Deodhar at a function here which was attended by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.
Union human resource development minister Ramesh Pokhriyal and outgoing state BJP president Satpal Singh Satti were among the top leaders present at the event.
Single nomination for the post of president was filed by Bindal on Friday after he quit Vidhan Sabha speaker’s post on Thursday.
Bindal replaces Satpal Singh Satti, who had been party president for eight years.
Though half a dozen names were doing rounds for the post of the president, BJP’s national working chief Jagat Prakash Nadda at the last moment nominated Bindal for the post, considering his ‘organisational skills’.
The party was looking for bigger name who could steer the party to victory in 2022 assembly elections. Two sets of nominations were filed on Friday sponsoring the candidature of Bindal and the election was a smooth process.
Leaders present at the event included MoS for corporate affairs and finance Anurag Thakur, Bihar’s health minister Mangal Pandey, who is also in charge for party affairs in Himachal, ministers Sarveen Chaudhary, Suresh Bhardwaj , Bipin Singh Parmar, Govind Thakur and party’s chief whip Narendra Bragta.
A five-time legislator Bindal was an ayurveda practitioner before he entered the electoral politics.