Pratibha Singh, congress chief of the Himachal Pradesh, announced that a meeting would be held in the evening to decide upon the state’s new chief minister.
“We will be holding a meeting in the evening and then deciding the name of the CM. There is no groupism and everybody is with us,” Pratibha Singh said hours after her statement sparked a row of controversy.
Pratibha Virbhadra Singh, the state’s president, was heard hinting at her desire to be named the state’s chief executive while speaking with the media. She said that the party cannot ignore the person (her husband, Virbhadra Singh) whose name it ran for office and won.
“They can’t neglect his (Virbhadra Singh) family. We won on his name, face and work. It can’t be the case that you use his name, face and family and then give all the credit to someone else. Even High Command won’t do this,” she had said.
Comgress leader Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, previously stated that the MLA chosen by the party’s high command would take over as the new chief minister of Himachal Pradesh.
There are no differences of opinion among the party’s MLAs, according to another Congress leader, Kuldeep Singh Rathore, because everyone was elected on a party ticket.
“Nobody is narrating any different story. Everyone has been chosen by the party ticket and everyone would respect the Congress high command’s decision,” Kuldeep Singh Rathore said.
He continued by saying that the party high command would make the ultimate decision after hearing from supervisors Bhupinder Hooda and Bhupesh Baghel, the chief minister of Chhattisgarh.
Bhupesh Baghel, the party’s Himachal supervisor and the chief minister of Chhattisgarh, made it clear that no one would be overlooked and that the party will continue to include everyone.
“There is no question of neglecting anyone. Everyone will be taken together to go ahead. Everyone has the right to express their opinion. There is no problem,” CM Baghel said as he landed in Shimla for the meeting.
He said that it is the victory of the people of Shimla and Congress leaders and workers. “Everyone worked hard. Priyanka Gandhi Vadra played the most crucial role, and we also had blessings of Sonia ji and Rahul Gandhi ji,” said Baghel.
Finalizing its chief ministerial candidate for Himachal Pradesh appears to be a big task for Congress with various aspirants in the fray including Pratibha Singh.
Other candidates for the position are Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, a former state congressman, and Mukesh Agnihotri, the head of the CLP.
In the results made public on Thursday, the Congress took back control of Himachal Pradesh after a five-year absence. Using anti-incumbency, the Congress won 40 of the 68 seats in the assembly.
In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP got 25 seats while the Congress won 40. AAP was unable to establish an account in the state, and independents gained three seats.
In terms of vote share in Himachal, the Congress is only slightly ahead of the BJP, having received 43.88% of the vote to the opposition’s 42.99%. In the hill state, others received 10.4% of the vote.
Congress was on the right side of anti-incumbency, and Himachal Pradesh has a lengthy history of changing administrations. Jai Ram Thakur, the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, resigned after his party lost the polls. Notably, the BJP won 44 seats in the 2017 Assembly elections, while the Congress won 21. This helped the BJP form the government.