Ordinary worker image, loyalty to Gandhis helps Sukhwinder Sukhu pip a royal in Himachal CM race

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, December 10

Unstinted loyalty to the Gandhis, ordinary worker’s image and apt caste and regional equations came together to take four-time Congress MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu ahead of rivals Pratibha Singh and Mukesh Agnihotri in the race for Himachal Pradesh chief minister-ship.

Sukhu, 58, who hails from lower Himachal region of Hamirpur, was among early loyalists of Rahul Gandhi, when the latter was building a pan India team as party president between 2017 and 2019 and earlier as organisational in-charge of NSUI and Youth Congress.

Rahul had backed and promoted Sukhu as Himachal Congress President despite late chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s reservations.

Sukhu’s elevation as CM fits well with the Congress scheme of things going forward.

First, it blunts the BJP attack that the Congress is a party of royals.

By choosing Sukhu (a dedicated organisation man who gradually rose up the ladder having won Himachal Pradesh university elections, municipal polls, served in NSUI, state Youth Congress and then led the state Congress) over Pratibha Singh, the erstwhile royal, the Congress has given a message that it values commitment over dynasty.

Sukhu’s elevation also effects the long-delayed generational change in the hill state where late six-term CM Virbhadra Singh dominated the leadership for decades.

Pratibha Singh, late Virbhadra Singh’s wife and Mukesh Agnihotri, his protege, lost out to Sukhu today with the party determined to project an independent line of leadership in Himachal, only the third state it rules, after Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

AICC sources said Sukhu earned the post having not just won his own election in Nadaun, but also managing to steer party’s wins in four of Hamirpur’s five segments, with the fifth segment going to independent Ashish Sharma, who is also in Sukhu’s camp.

The Congress win in Hamirpur came as a setback to BJP stalwart Prem Kumar Dhumal and his son, sitting union minister Anurag Thakur and worked as a psychological booster for the party.

Congress leaders said Sukhu also enjoyed the support of nearly 25 MLAs and fitted the caste equation well, as he hails from the dominant community of Rajputs.

Agnihotri, a Brahmin from Una, was named deputy CM to strike a community balance, with the party set to offer a meaty portfolio to Pratibha Singh’s son Vikramaditya Singh to keep everyone happy.

Sukhu, meanwhile, is expected to carve a new path for himself and the Congress, a path independent of the legacy of Virbhadra Singh, who remained the unchallenged leader of the party in Himachal as long as he lived.