Latest News | Himachal: Cabinet Expansion 'fails' to Resolve Regional Imbalance
Get latest articles and stories on Latest News at LatestLY. The induction of two new ministers in the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has increased the representation of Brahmin and Schedule Caste communities, but it seems the Congress government has failed to give adequate representation to various regions in the state.
Shimla, Dec 12 (PTI) The induction of two new ministers in the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet has increased the representation of Brahmin and Schedule Caste communities, but it seems the Congress government has failed to give adequate representation to various regions in the state.
For instance, Shimla district with seven Congress MLAs still has lion's share in the cabinet -- three berths -- while Kangra district with 10 party MLAs has only two cabinet ministers.
The Congress won 40 out of 68 assembly seats including 10 seats in Kangra, seven in Shimla, four each in Una, Solan, and Hamirpur, three in Sirmaur, two each in Chamba and Kullu, and one each in Mandi, Bilaspur, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts.
Kangra, the biggest district of the state with 15 assembly constituencies, is instrumental in formation of government in the hill state and discrimination with Kangra could create problems for the Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
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Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has declared Kangra district as tourist capital of the state with several projects worth crores of rupees in the pipeline.
After the cabinet expansion on Tuesday, Sukhu said that caste and region has been balanced in the cabinet expansion and Mandi parliamentary constituency would also get its due representation.
The one-year-old Himachal Pradesh Cabinet was expanded on Tuesday with the induction of Rajesh Dharmani and Yadvinder Goma as cabinet ministers.
The Shimla parliamentary constituency with five ministers has the biggest share in the cabinet while Hamirpur and Kangra constituencies have three and two ministers, respectively. From Mandi parliamentary constituency, tribal leader Jagat Singh Negi from Kinnaur (ST) seat is the lone minister in the state cabinet.
Caste wise, the cabinet consists of five ministers from the Rajput community, including the chief minister, two from Brahmin including deputy CM, two from scheduled castes, and one each from other backward classes and scheduled tribe.
The expansion would further strengthen the government or make the left out aspirants more vocal, only time will tell, said a veteran Congress leader.
Some Congress leaders have also been vocal against the government. Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh, wife of former CM Virbhadra Singh, has been raking the issue of lack of coordination between the organisation and the government.
Recently, she had expressed her displeasure for not being consulted on one-year celebration of the state government and asserted that the dedicated party workers, who were instrumental in the victory of the party in the assembly polls, should be rewarded.
In September, Congress MLA Rajinder Rana had also expressed concern over delay in recruitments in government jobs, and drawn the attention of chief minister over brewing discontent among the unemployed youth after Himachal Pradesh Staff Selection Commission was scrapped.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)