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Cong names Sukhu CM, Agnihotri Himachal deputy
Sukhu, 58, who headed the party’s campaign committee, and Agnihotri, 60, who was the leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly, will take oath on Sunday at 11am
SHIMLA: The Congress on Saturday named Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as the next chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and Mukesh Agnihotri as his deputy, two days after the party clinched power from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the hill state, prompting hectic parleys within its ranks on the name for the top job in the state.
Sukhu, 58, who headed the party’s campaign committee, and Agnihotri, 60, who was the leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly, will take oath on Sunday at 11am, the Congress’s central observer Bhupesh Baghel said.
The Congress’s lawmakers in Himachal Pradesh on Friday entrusted the party’s central leadership to pick the next CM, as factions competing for the post appeared far from a consensus. The Congress observers — Chhattisgarh chief minister Baghel, former chief minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda and AICC in-charge for Himachal Pradesh Rajeev Shukla — visited the state and met the Governor to submit a list of the party’s winning candidates on Friday.
After a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Shimla, its second in 24 hours, Baghel announced the election of Sukhu as the CLP leader on Saturday. The meeting was also attended by the Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh. Addressing the media accompanied by Hooda and Shukla, Baghel announced that Agnihotri would be the deputy chief minister.
It is after four decades that Himachal Pradesh will have a Congress CM other than Virbhadra Singh, the veteran leader who served as the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh for six terms from 1982 to 2017. He died last year due to post-Covid complications.
“The Congress Legislature Party has picked Sukhvinder Singh as the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, while Haroli MLA and leader of Opposition in the outgoing assembly Mukesh Agnihotri will be the deputy chief minister,” said Rajinder Singh Rana, a senior party leader and Sujanpur MLA.
After being named CM, Sukhu lauded Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and said that the party will fulfil all its campaign promises. He added that the new government will “bring change” to the state.
“I am thankful to Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, Priyanka Gandhi and the people of the state. Our government will bring change. It is my responsibility to fulfil all the promises we made to the people of Himachal Pradesh. We have to work for the development of the state,” he said.
Sukhu said he and deputy Agnihotri will work “as a team”. “Deputy CM-designate Mukesh Agnihotri and I will work as a team. I started my political career at the age of 17. I will never be able to forget what the Congress party has done for me,” he said.
The Congress won its first assembly elections in nearly four years on Thursday in Himachal Pradesh, with 40 of the 68 seats in the assembly, keeping alive the state’s tradition of voting out the incumbent every five years. But almost immediately, multiple aspirants for the CM’s position emerged, with Mandi MP and Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh, former state unit chief Sukhu, and Agnihotri seen as the front-runners.
This brought back memories of similar crises that roiled the party in the two other states it is in power on its own — Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
The central Congress leadership called a meeting of the newly elected lawmakers in Shimla on Friday evening. The meeting was attended by lawmakers and the Congress central observers and resolved that the party high command would name the next chief minister of the state.
Sukhu has risen through the ranks in the party, starting his career as a student leader. The 58-year-old was seen as a front-runner for the top post after the party appointed him chairman of its campaign committee for the assembly elections, held on November 12.
While Sukhu maintained that the CM would be from among the MLAs, Pratibha Singh staked claim to the top post citing her husband’s legacy. She said on Saturday that she would support the party high command’s decision.
A person aware of the developments said that Pratibha Singh’s son, Congress MLA Vikramaditya Singh, could be given an important position in the cabinet.
Soon after meeting on Saturday, the Congress leadership left for the residence of the Governor to stake claim to form the government.
Sukhu is a four-term legislator and is considered close to party leader Rahul Gandhi. Son of a road transport corporation driver, Sukhu had a modest beginning and used to run a milk counter at Chhota Shimla in his early days.
Rising through the ranks, he remained the party’s state unit president for a record six years from 2013 to 2019 despite being frequently at loggerheads with Virbhadra Singh.
With inputs from agencies
