Himachal CM race: As the Congress struggles to pick a CM face after registering victory in the just concluded Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections 2022, state party unit chief Pratibha Singh, wife of former CM Virbbhadra Singh, made a strong statement on Friday. Pratibha Singh made it loud and clear that the Congress high command can't overlook her candidacy for the top post.
She said that the party won state elections on his late husband's name, face - a fact that the Congress leadership can not deny.
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"They can't neglect his (Virbhadra Singh) family. We won on his name, face and work. It can't be that you use his name, face and family and give credit to someone else. High Command won't do this," news agency ANI quoted Pratibha Singh, who is said to be the frontrunner for Himachal Pradesh CM chair.
Apart from Pratibha Singh, who did not contest the assembly elections, there are at least four contenders for CM post. Her son Vikramaditya Singh, who won from Shimla, has already said that he wants her mother to be the chief minister.
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Other leaders who are in the race include former state chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, the leader of the Congress legislature party Mukesh Agnihotri, and Harshwardhan Chauhan. Former Himachal Congress chief Kuldeep Singh has also thrown his hat in the ring claiming that he helped bridge the huge divide in state unit of the party.
Meanwhile, the Congress, which wrested power from the BJP in the hilly state, has convened a meeting of all its newly-elected MLAs in Shimla today where a resolution is likely to be passed authorising the party president to pick the legislative party leader.
The Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Assembly which maintained its tradition of not voting any incumbent government to power since 1985. The BJP won 25, and other 3. The Aam Aadmi Party failed to open its account.
