Vipin Parmar files nomination for HP speaker’s post
With his resignation, there are there berths in the state cabinet up for grabs
State cabinet minister Vipin Singh Parmar on Tuesday filed nomination for the post of Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha speaker.
The post fell vacant after Rajeev Bindal took over the reins of the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Decision to nominate Parmar for the post of speaker was taken at the BJP legislature group meeting that ended late on Monday evening. Parmar’s name was cleared by party high command even as chief minister Jai Ram Thakur was keen on two-time Hamirpur legislator Narender Thakur.
BJP had earlier contemplated names of social justice minister Rajiv Saizal and education minister Suresh Bhardwaj, but both refused to accept the post. With Parmar’s resignation, now three cabinet berths are up for grabs.
Born on March 15, 1964, Parmar started as a student leader from Government College Dharamshala. He remained organising secretary of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), for more than eight years in 80s.
Thereafter, he served as the president of Akhil Bharatiya Yuva Morcha’s (BJYM), Kangra-Chamba unit. Later, he represented Kangra BJP district president.
A protégé of veteran leader and former two-term chief minister Shanta Kumar, Parmar contested first election from Sulah, home turf of his mentor, in 1995, but lost.
He was elected to the state assembly from Sulah for the first time in 1998. He lost the next election but was reelected in 2007. During this period, he served as state BJP general secretary twice.
He lost the 2012 assembly election. Parmar then went on to win the third term in 2017 and was appointed as health and family welfare minister in Jai Ram Thakur cabinet.
He also held portfolios of medical education, ayurveda and science and technology. He was also the state vice-president of the outgoing state BJP executive.
Parmar courted controversy last year when a letter alleging corruption in the health department went viral on social media.
The letter addressed to veteran leader Shanta Kumar indirectly pointed fingers at Parmar over some deals to purchase medicine and questioned former chief minister’s silence on the issue.