Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu (R), along with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, after taking oath at a ceremony, in Shimla, December 11, 2022. (PTI)
Not many profiles can touch as many steps of the political ladder as Himachal Pradesh’s 15th Chief Minister-designate Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu‘s does. The 58-year-old self-made leader has the distinction of rising through all ranks since he got elected as a class representative in Class 11 at Government Degree College, Shimla, in 1981. He has never looked back since. Sukhu was appointed chief of the state unit of the NSUI in 1989, helmed the state unit of the Youth Congress (1998-2008), got elected as a councillor twice (1992-2002) before entering the Vidhan Sabha as an MLA in 2003, headed the state Congress committee (2013-2019). And, now Chief Minister!
Born on March 27, 1964, at Bhavarna village of Nadaun in Hamipur district, the four-time MLA studied law from Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. His father Rasil Singh was a driver with the state roadways. As a student, he did menial jobs to supplement his income.
Meanwhile, the state will also have a deputy chief minister for the first time ever in five-time legislator Mukesh Agnihotri, who was a journalist before joining politics under late Virbhadra Singh’s mentorship. Agnihotri contested his first election in 2003 from the Santokgarh Assembly seat in Una district. He was re-elected from the constituency in 2007. He won the 2012, 2017, 2022 elections from Haroli, which was known as Santokhgarh before delimitation.
The party choice of CM is a major setback to state party chief Pratibha Singh, who had openly staked claim to the top post invoking the legacy of Vibhadra Singh, the five-time Chief Minister who died last July.
The Congress party, which suffered its worst-ever debacle in the Gujarat elections, managed to put its act together for the Himachal Pradesh Assembly polls and wrested the hill state from the BJP. Although the Himachal polls was a close contest between the two contenders, in the end the challenger Congress got the better of the incumbent BJP decisively, bagging 40 of the total 68 seats as against the BJP’s 25. So what worked for the Congress in the Himachal elections that did not in the Gujarat fray.
Firstly, the party started gearing up for the Himachal polls several months in advance. Despite being plagued by factionalism and infighting, the party’s state unit made efforts to put its house in order with different faction leaders coming together to put up a united face against the BJP.
