Congress appoints district presidents in 11 Himachal districts after over 13 months

The Congress High Command on Friday (January 2, 2026) appointed district presidents in 11 districts of Himachal Pradesh, more than 13 months after the State, district and block units were dissolved.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge approved the appointments as part of the party’s ‘Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan’, a release issued by Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said.

The appointments followed the submission of reports by All India Congress Committee (AICC) observers, who conducted district-wise reviews and held interactions with party functionaries and stakeholders.

One-to-one discussions were later held with the observers and senior party leaders before finalising the names, the release said.

The newly appointed district presidents are Champa Thakur (Mandi), Anurag Sharma (Kangra), Suman Bharti Sharma (Hamirpur), Dorje Angrup (Lahaul-Spiti), Ses Ram Azad (Kullu), Surjit Kumar Bharmauri (Chamba), Anand Parmar (Sirmaur), Subash Chand Vermani (Solan), Inderjeet Singh (Shimla Urban), Anjana Dhiman (Bilaspur) and Des Raj Gautam (Una).

The Congress on November 6, 2024 dissolved the Pradesh Congress Committee in Himachal Pradesh along with the district and block units, while Pratibha Singh continued as state party chief.

Vinay Kumar was appointed the new Himachal Pradesh Congress president on November 22, 2025 and assumed charge on November 30. He had said the party organisation in the state would be reconstituted within three months.

A senior Congress leader said the appointments would help revive the party cadre, which had remained demoralised in the absence of an organisational structure for over a year.