There are three CM aspirants who are being talked about at present. Ms Pratibha Singh, MP, Sukhwinder Singh and Mukesh Agihotri. Their fate is supposed to be sealed by this evening.
The final decision is to be taken by the 40 MLAs in Shimla by this evening under the keen eye and affirmation of the High Command.
The win of Congress in Himachal Pradesh must be the most galling to the Bharatiya Janata Party because the electorate gave the opposition Congress party a chance to form the government and not the BJP whom they had given a chance for five years.
It’s a big loss for BJP because they had got an inroad into Himachal Pradesh but which they could not sustain after just one term.
Himachal Pradesh had earlier been continuously won by late Congress Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh six times. But in 2017 BJP was able to win by highlighting that Vir Bhadra Singh was above 80 years and was corrupt. They were able to trump up the corruption charges against the CM calling him “CM on bail”.
The Congress was unable to encash GST and demonetization woes. The in-fighting between Sukhwinder Singh Sikhu and Vir Bhadra Singh also did not help either.
This time besides Ms Priyanka Gandhi and party president Kharge not many top Congress leaders of the party are supposed to have campaigned in Himachal Pradesh while Prime Minister Narendra Modi, home minister Amit Shah, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath and other BJP top brass campaigned vigorously.
One of the reasons for the loss is being taken as BJP was unable to create any kind of communal polarisation because the state has hardly any sizeable Muslim population.
Secondly, there was also no dominant caste to play caste politics.
Thus it was the only performance that must have played a role and BJP fared badly.
Interestingly this is one state where there is over 95 percent Hindus but still, the BJP was not able to form a government.
Clearly, people were not happy with BJP’s performance in the state and looked back at the days of the Congress. They did not want the BJP’s “double engine” government, the same government in the Centre and state.
Interestingly this time the win has come with Vir Bhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh holding the mantle of party chief in Himachal Pradesh.
After her win, she is supposed to have said that the electorate fondly remembered the works done by her husband Vir Bhadra Singh for the state of Himachal Pradesh.
A member of Parliament from Mandi in Himachal Pradesh seat she has been able to successfully translate the credit of the win due to the legacy of late Vir Bhadra Singh, one of the most prominent figures of Himachal Pradesh.
She clearly is a front runner for the CM post. Will she be made the chief minister now, is to be seen.
However, former Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee president a rival of Vir Bhadra Singh who has had a long stint in politics Sukhwinder Singh is also a CM hopeful.
He was the campaign committee chief this time round who contested from Nadaun seat and won.
He has been a three time MLA and been in Congress since his student days.
The third contender for the CM post is Mukesh Agnihotri, who was the Leader of the Opposition.
He has won the Haroli constituency for the fifth time, the first time winning it in 2003.
| Posted by Sameer Khan | 
