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In Himachal, decks cleared for Rajeev Bindal to take BJP reins for third term

Bindal emerges as the only BJP leader to have filed nomination for the post; he is considered “capable of balancing equations between party old-timers and Congress turncoats”

(To right) Himachal Pradesh BJP veteran Rajeev Bindal (X/@rajeevbindal)

ShimlaJuly 1, 2025 10:13 AM IST First published on: Jul 1, 2025 at 04:22 AM IST

Himachal Pradesh BJP veteran Rajeev Bindal is set to be re-elected unopposed as the state unit chief as he has emerged as the only party leader to have filed his nomination for the post on Monday.

While Union minister Jitendra Singh would formally announce Bindal’s name as the new Himachal BJP president on Tuesday, a BJP leader said the party’s rule allowing a person to serve as the state unit chief for six years was a key factor in retaining Bindal. “Also, the defection of six Congress MLAs to the BJP has reshaped the party’s dynamics, prompting the central leadership to appoint a leader who is capable of balancing equations between the party old-timers and Congress turncoats,” the leader added.

Seen as close to BJP president J P Nadda and the RSS, Bindal’s first term as the state chief lasted for seven months between January 2020 to July 2020 while his second term has been continuing since April 2023.

Another BJP leader said that Bindal not holding any elected post tipped the scales in his favour. “The central leadership wants to keep him in a position of power. Also, Bindal is said to have played a key role in pacifying leaders who were against the party’s decision to field Congress turncoats – who had been disqualified after they joined the BJP in March last year – in the bypolls,” the leader added.

Key BJP leaders like Bilaspur MLA Trilok Jamwal, Kangra MP Rajeev Bhardwaj, and Rajya Sabha MPs Sikander Kumar and Indu Goswami were seen to be in the running for the state party president’s post.

Born in 1955 in Solan, Bindal served in the tribal belt of Jharkhand between 1978 to 1981 as a doctor under the RSS’s Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. He plunged into politics in the early 1990s and was elected as a councillor. He served as the chairman of the Solan Municipal Committee from 1995 to 2000.

He won the 2000 Solan Assembly bypoll as a Republican Janata Party candidate and retained the seat in 2003 and 2007 as a BJP candidate. In 2012, he successfully contested the Nahan Assembly seat and retained it five years later. In the 2022 polls, Bindal narrowly lost the seat by just over 1,600 votes.

Bindal also served as the state health minister in the Prem Kumar Dhumal-led BJP government in the state. Between 2017 and 2020, he was the Speaker of the Assembly, a post from which he stepped down to take over as the state BJP chief.

Though he was never formally charged, an alleged scam in the procurement of the health department cut short Bindal’s tenure as the Himachal BJP chief as he stepped down in May 2020 on “moral grounds”.

His “clean image” saw him return to the top post in 2023, a year after the BJP lost the Assembly polls.

State BJP election officer Bhardwaj said Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly Jairam Thakur, all four Lok Sabha MPs from the state – Bhardwaj, Anurag Thakur, Kashyap and Kangana Ranaut – along with Goswami, Kumar and Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan were elected as the ex-officio members of the National Council from the state.

Bhardwaj said eight nominations including from senior party leaders like Govind Thakur, Bihari Lal Sharma, Trilok Kapoor, Rashminar Sood, Payal Vaidya, Rajeev Saizal and Sanjeev Katwal were received for the National Council.