Four-time MLA Sukhvinder Sukhu appointed as Himachal's new Chief Minister

Digital Desk: Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, who led the Congress' campaign committee in Himachal Pradesh, has been named the state's new Chief Minister. Mr Sukhu, 58, is a member of the Hamirpur district assembly from Nadaun. He will take the oath of office tomorrow at 11 a.m. 

Mukesh Agnihotri, a five-time MLA, will be the Deputy Chief Minister. 

"Mukesh Agnihotri, the Deputy Chief Minister-designate, and I will collaborate. I began my political career when I was 17 years old. I'll never forget what the Congress party has done for me "According to the news agency ANI, Mr Sukhu told reporters. 

Mr Sukhu is a four-time MLA and past president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress. He is close to party leader Rahul Gandhi.

He did not, however, get along well with six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who died in July of last year. 

"It is a source of pride for our country that the son of an ordinary family will be our Chief Minister, due to our leaders, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge Ji, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi, who led a vigorous campaign. My best wishes and support to my new Chief Minister, Sukhu "Anand Sharma, a Congress politician, posted on Twitter.

Previously, state Congress chief Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra Singh's wife, and Mukesh Agnihotri had been vying for the position of Chief Minister. 

"We respect the Congress high command's decision," Pratibha Singh told reporters last evening.

Unlike the retired Virbhadra Singh, Mr Sukhu was an activist at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla in the late 1980s, leading the state section of the National Students' Union of India. 

Pratibha Singh's supporters protested earlier this evening outside the hotel where the party's central observers were staying when it was revealed that she would not be the Chief Minister. They halted Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel's automobile yesterday, before the party's important meeting, and declared their support for Pratibha Singh.

Pratibha Singh had asserted her claim to the role with a harsh rebuke to Delhi's leadership. She claimed that the elections were fought and won in the name of Virbhadra Singh, and that excluding his family would be "a calamity." 

However, she lacks popular support among the party's freshly elected 40 MLAs, which is why she has been pulled from the race, according to sources.

MLAs enabled the party president to choose the legislature party leader, who would also be the next chief minister, during a meeting of the Congress high command on Friday. 

The Congress won 40 of the 68 assembly seats in the assembly election, defeating the BJP.