The suspense over who would be the Congress high command’s pick for Himachal Pradesh CM ended on Saturday evening with Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, head of the election campaign committee, set to be the 15th Chief Minister of the hill state.
The race was mainly between Sukhu and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh who pulled out of the race 48 hours after the grand old party unseated the BJP by winning 40 of the 68 Assembly seats. Sources told News18 that Singh pulled out of the race just before the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Saturday.
Sources added that Pratibha Singh has expressed her displeasure over Sukhu to central leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Bhupesh Baghel and Rajeev Shukla. Leaders in her camp said on condition of anonymity that if she is not being considered for the post of Himachal Pradesh CM then she would lobby for the position of deputy chief minister for her son Vikramaditya Singh.
Pratibha Singh is the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh while Sukhu is a four-time MLA from Nandaun who is a known rival of her husband.
Leaders close to her added that they would not hesitate to support leader of the opposition in the outgoing Assembly Mukesh Agnihotri though he doesn’t figure prominently in the party’s calculations to pick the new CM.
Another name that started doing the rounds was that of Rajinder Rana, MLA from Sujanpur in Hamirpur, who the Pratibha Singh camp is not averse to supporting.
The suspense over who would be the Congress high command’s pick for Himachal Pradesh CM ended on Saturday evening with Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, head of the election campaign committee, set to be the 15th Chief Minister of the hill state.
The race was mainly between Sukhu and state Congress chief Pratibha Singh who pulled out of the race 48 hours after the grand old party unseated the BJP by winning 40 of the 68 Assembly seats. Sources told News18 that Singh pulled out of the race just before the Congress Legislature Party meeting on Saturday.
Sources added that Pratibha Singh has expressed her displeasure over Sukhu to central leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Bhupesh Baghel and Rajeev Shukla. Leaders in her camp said on condition of anonymity that if she is not being considered for the post of Himachal Pradesh CM then she would lobby for the position of deputy chief minister for her son Vikramaditya Singh.
Pratibha Singh is the wife of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh while Sukhu is a four-time MLA from Nandaun who is a known rival of her husband.
Leaders close to her added that they would not hesitate to support leader of the opposition in the outgoing Assembly Mukesh Agnihotri though he doesn’t figure prominently in the party’s calculations to pick the new CM.
Another name that started doing the rounds was that of Rajinder Rana, MLA from Sujanpur in Hamirpur, who the Pratibha Singh camp is not averse to supporting.
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