Shimla (The Hawk): The freshly elected Congress MLAs on Friday voted a standard one-line resolution authorising party president Mallikarjun Kharge to choose their chief minister, a day after seizing control of Himachal Pradesh.
Pratibha Singh, the president of the Himachal Congress, is currently in the driver's seat, followed by Mukesh Agnihotri, the departing leader of the Congress legislature party, and Sukhiwnder Singh Sukhu, the former head of the state unit. Before it started late in the evening, the inaugural meeting of the legislature party in Shimla had to be postponed three times.
Agnihotri made the motion for the resolution, which gave Kharge the go-ahead to choose the new CM, and Sukhu seconded it. The announcement of the resolution was made following the meeting by the AICC's Himachal Congress in-charge Rajeev Shukla, who was joined by Pratibha, Sukhu, and two party observers, former Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel. In a day or two, the high leadership will receive the reports from both of our observers. The choice of the new CM will be determined at that point, he stated.
Shukla asserted that Kharge must make the decision because no MLA had submitted a name. However, reports indicated that all MLAs were instructed to provide two names for the position of chief minister along with their virtues and shortcomings.
Right through the day, both Pratibha and Sukhu were lobbying will party MLAs requesting their support. Sukhu remained evasive throughout the day amid rumours that he was keeping his flock of MLAs intact while Pratibha saw Baghel, Hooda, and Shukla.
Before the CLP meeting, Pratibha's supporters chanted "Make Pratibha the CM" in front of Congress Bhawan in Shimla. Pratibha did not run for office in the Assembly because he is the MP for Mandi. But she ran a protracted election campaign all over the state, urging people to vote in honour of her late husband Virbhadra Singh.
(Inputs from Agencies)