Former Himachal Congress chief Kuldeep Rathore likely to bag top party post again

New Delhi: Former Himachal Pradesh Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore is the frontrunner for the top party post, with state education minister Rohit Thakur emerging as the other key contender.

Both are members of the legislative assembly. Rathore represents Theog, while Thakur is the MLA from Jubbal-Kotkhai. Rathore earlier held the post from January 2019 to April 2022.

One of them is likely to replace incumbent Pratibha Singh, wife of the late six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh.

Singh has held the post since June 2022 and submitted her resignation after the party’s poor performance on all four Lok Sabha seats from the state in the 2024 parliamentary elections. It was under her presidency that the Congress regained power from the BJP in the 2022 assembly polls.

The Himachal Pradesh Congress has been virtually non-functional since national president Mallikarjun Kharge dissolved the state unit in November 2024.

Both Rathore and Thakur belong to the Rajput community, one of the dominant castes in the hill state. Rajputs constitute about 33 per cent of Himachal Pradesh’s population of around 7 million. Dalits are the second-largest community at 27 per cent, while Brahmins account for about 18–20 per cent.

Until recently, party convention was that if the chief minister or the legislative party leader was a Rajput, the state unit chief would be a Brahmin. Since 2022, however, the party has had Rajputs in both roles – Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as chief minister and Pratibha Singh as state unit chief.

The Congress leadership had also considered appointing a Dalit state president. The names of Sri Renukaji and Deputy Speaker Vinay Kumar had been doing the rounds for months, but the central leadership is understood to have decided to continue with a forward-caste leader to ensure other dominant groups do not move away from the party.

What appears to favour Rathore is the party’s bypoll performance during his tenure: the Congress won four assembly by-elections in November 2021 despite being in opposition while the BJP ran the state government.

An announcement is expected soon.