A case of one too many as Congress gets ready to pick its CM in Himachal

I am capable of leading the state as Chief Minister as the elections in Himachal were won in the name of my late husband, Virbhadra Singh says Pratibha Singh

New Delhi, Dec 09: Deciding on a chief ministerial candidate in Himachal Pradesh will not be easy for the Congress. It has four candidates to chose from. To iron out differences between the MLAs, the party has called for a meeting to decide on who would be the next chief minister of Himachal Pradesh which was bagged by the Congress on Thursday when the votes were counted. The meeting is slated for 3 pm at the Radisson hotel in Shimla.

The frontrunner is the chief of the Himachal Pradesh Congress, Pratibha Singh. She is the wife of Virbhadra Singh who was the tallest leader of the Congress in the state, until he passed away last year. Singh who is a Lok Sabha MP from Mandi belongs to a former royal family. While she did not contest the elections in the state this year, she ran an effective campaign for the Congress.

Pratibha Singh claims the support of the Congress MLAs who were loyal to her later husband who was at the helm of party affairs in the state for over three decades. She said that she can lead because the elections were won in the name of her late husband she said.

Her son Vikramaditya Singh who contested and won from Shima Rural said according to this report that as a son he wants Pratibha ji to get a big responsibility. Besides being a son, I am also a responsible leader of the party. We will respect whatever the party decides. I am sure that the party will take into account whatever the people want he added. He further said that we have to walk the path sown by Virbhadra ji. The government will work on the Virbhadra Singh Vikas model. In heaven, I am sure he must smiling, he also added.

The other contenders:

The other contenders are former state chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, leader of the Congress legislature party in the outgoing assembly Mukesh Agnihotri and Harshwardhan Chauhan.

According to Agnihotri, he deserves the top post for putting his party in a position of strength. Former state Congress chief, Kuldeep Singh Rathore says that he had brought a deeply divided party in Himachal Pradesh together. He had been replaced by Pratibha Singh a few months back as party chief.

Looking at the kind of situation the party is in when it comes to picking a chief minister, the party had even considered moving its MLAs to Chandigarh or Raipur. After the party ended up with a clear majority that plan was shelved.

The Congress won 40 of the 60 seats, five above the magic mark. The BJP ended with 25 seats.