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Gokul Butail appointed IT adviser, Naresh Chauhan media adviser in Himachal
An aerospace engineer, Butail was the in-charge of the Congress’ election war room during the assembly election, in which the Congress stormed into power after winning 40 seats in the 68-member house.
The Himachal Pradesh government on Tuesday appointed All India Congress Committee (AICC) joint secretary Gokul Butail as principal advisor (IT and innovation) to chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and Naresh Chauhan as principal advisor (media) in the rank of cabinet ministers.
An aerospace engineer, Butail was the in-charge of the Congress’ election war room during the assembly election, in which the Congress stormed into power after winning 40 seats in the 68-member house.
The 33-year-old is the grandson of veteran Congress leader Kunj Behari Lal Butail and nephew of sitting Palampur legislator Ashish Butail.
Educated in the US, he had served as IT advisor to former chief minister Virbhadra Singh from 2012-17.
Chauhan is the spokesperson of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) and head of the party’s state media department. Chauhan has been close to Sukhu since his college days. They both entered politics at the same time in 1981 and contested elections for the Central Student Association (CSA).
When Sukhu was elected general secretary of the Students’ Union in Government College for Boys in 1983, Chauhan was elected CSA joint secretary from the Congress’ student wing, the National Student Union of India.
Later, Chauhan contested college president elections as an independent candidate against Sukhu in 1984 but lost. When Sukhu was state Congress chief from 2013 to 2019, Chauhan was the party’s chief spokesperson.
“It is a great honour for me to be appointed media advisor to the CM. I have learnt lot from my friend and colleague Sukhu,” said Chauhan. Both the appointments have been made on co-terminus basis.
