Has Congress taken a risk by naming both CM and Dy CM from lower Himachal?

New Delhi: Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has become the first Congress chief minister of Himachal Pradesh from the lower region of the hill state. All its previous chief ministers were from upper Himachal.

On the other hand, except Jairam Thakur, the two other chief ministers --Shanta Kumar and Prem Kumar Dhumal -- of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have been from lower Himachal. Thakur is from the Mandi district in upper Himachal.

In a surprising move, the grand old party also named Mukesh Agnihotri as its deputy chief minister.

While Sukhu represents the Nadaun assembly constituency in the Hamirpur district, Agnihotri is a legislator from Haroli in the Una district, bordering Punjab. Both are part of the lower Himachal and the Hamirpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Out of the ten assembly seats in Hamirpur and Una, the Congress won eight, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) bagged one and an independent one.  

While these two districts bagged the two coveted posts, the electorally important Kangra district, also in lower Himachal, and old Himachal (Shimla, Sirmour and Solan), which has been the traditional Congress stronghold, seems to have been ignored.

It is widely held that whichever party gets majority seats in the Kangra district goes to form the government in Himachal Pradesh.

Among 12 districts in the hill state and out of the total 68 seats, Kangra has the highest number of 15 assembly segments. While the Congress won ten seats, the BJP bagged four and an independent secured the remaining seat.  

In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP bagged 11 seats while the Congress won three and the remaining went to an independent.

This time, the Congress was expected to name either its chief minister or a deputy chief minister from the Kangra district. Instead, it chose Hamirpur and Una.

Similarly, Shimla and Mandi did not fit in its scheme of things. The Congress bagged seven out of the eight seats in Shimla district with the remaining one going to the BJP, which also swept the Mandi district, winning nine out of the ten seats. The Congress bagged one.

The grand old party seems to have taken a huge risk by ignoring the Kangra and Shimla districts. Mandi is understandable given that it won only one seat in the district.  

But the move is likely to hurt its prospects in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in three seats -- Kangra, Shimla and Mandi.

The Congress could make amends if it gives adequate representation and important portfolios to these districts, especially Kangra, in the new Council of Ministers.

Sukhu and the Congress party’s central leadership will have to walk a tightrope in ensuring regional balance in the cabinet formation or else the next Lok Sabha elections are just 14 months away.