Two days after, the Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, the party on December 10, 2022, announced Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s name for the Chief Minister post.
The party also announced that Mukesh Agnihotri will be the Deputy Chief Minster. He is the leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Assembly.
After two days of hectic deliberations over the names of several contenders, the party ‘high command’ decided the name of Mr. Sukhu, who is currently the party’s campaign committee chief, a former State president, and the MLA from Nadaun, for the Chief Minister post.
On Saturday, the party convened a meeting of the CLP, in which Mr. Sukhu was elected as its leader, who would be the Chief Minister. The party leaders then went to meet Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar to stake claim to form the government in the State. The swearing-in ceremony is slated for December 11.
“Yesterday, the CLP members had authorised the party high command’ pick the legislature party leader. Today, the party’s high command selected Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as the Congress Legislator Party leader, who would be the Chief Minister. Also, the party has selected Mukesh Agnihotri as deputy chief minister. The oath would be taken on December 11,” said Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is one of the party’s observers for Himachal Pradesh.
Mr. Sukhu said the priority of the government would be to fulfill all the promises made to the people of the State.
A party source confirmed that the approval surrounding the name of Mr. Sukhu for the Chief Minister post was given from the party ‘high command’, and the CLP was a mere ‘formality’ to elect him as its new leader during the meeting. Mr. Sukhu edged the other contenders including Pratibha Singh, the widow of the late Virbhadra Singh, a six-time Chief Minister, and the outgoing CLP leader Mukesh Agnihotri as a majority of MLAs extended support for Mr. Sukhu.
To pacify the rival camps, a formula was devised in which Mr. Sukhu was declared the Chief Minister, while Mukesh Agnihotri was accommodated as deputy chief minister.
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Earlier on Friday, Congress MLAs had passed a resolution “authorising” the party national president to pick the legislature party leader. Sources said that the decision to authorising was taken after a consensus could not be evolved on a single name for the post amid the ‘factionalism’ in the party’s State unit, which is divided into ‘Sukhu’ and ‘Pratibha’ camps.
The Congress observers for Himachal Pradesh — including Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rajeev Shukla, the party’s in-charge for the State — were in Shimla to conduct a meeting with the newly elected MLAs.
The Congress party won 40 Assembly seats in the recently held Assembly election to edge out the Bharatiya Janta Party, which could win only 25 seats. Independent candidates won three seats.
