Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu takes oath as Himachal Pradesh CM

Leader of Congress Legislature Party Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Sunday (December 11) took oath as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh at the historic Ridge Maidan in Shimla.

Congress leader Mukesh Agnihotri took oath as the deputy Chief minister.

“We will deliver on our promises to the public in the first Cabinet meeting. The Old Pension Scheme will be restored…Earlier people said Congress will not come to power in any state, but today we have stopped BJP’s ‘rath’,” Agnihotri told ANI.

Senior leaders including party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi, and others attended the oath-taking ceremony.

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Sukhu is the first Congress leader from Lower Himachal — comprising areas merged in Himachal in 1966 such as Nalagarh, Una, Hamirpur, Kangra and lower hills of Kullu — to occupy the top post. He is the second chief minister from Hamirpur district, after BJP’s Prem Kumar Dhumal.

A Nadaun native, Sukhu obtained a degree in law. He then joined the Congress’ student wing NSUI and was elected president of its state unit in 1989. Between 1998-2008, he also served as the president of the state youth Congress.

Sukhu was elected twice as a councillor of the municipal corporation of Shimla between 1992 and 2002. After stints with the Youth Congress, he became the secretary of the Pradesh Congress Committee in 2008.

Known for his time-management skills and popularity, Sukhu was made president of the party in 2013. He contested his first Assembly election in 2003 from Nadaun, winning the seat in 2007 and 2017.

The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday.

(With agency inputs)