Trained lawyer, Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu rose from student politics in Himachal. (File)
Shimla/Nadaun/New Delhi:
By choosing Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu as the new Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Parliament has made a point: Humble origins and grassroots work can be valued above “royalty” and political lineage. This happened even when BJP’s Amit Shah, during the campaign, criticized that SS Sukhu would not get the position because he was not “someone’s son or daughter”.
One son of a bus driver from Hamirpur quận district In an area far from the center of power, Mr. Sukhu, 58, used to sell milk in Shimla. He started his political career as a student leader at a college in Sanjauli near Shimla, graduating from the Himachal Pradesh University campus polls in the 1990s; and then pass the ranks.
“So proud that the son of an ordinary family will become our prime minister, thanks to our leadership,” Parliament senior leader Anand Sharma wrote on Twitter, thanking the Gandhis and party leader Mallikarjun Kharge.
His main rival is Pratibha Singh, the speaker of the state parliament, who derives power from the legacy of her late husband, Virbhadra Singh, a former royal minister and six-time chief minister. Vikramaditya Singh, son of Virbhadra Singh, is likely to receive an important post under Mr. Sukhu.
“Your number will not come,” Union Home Minister Amit Shah commented of Mr Sukhu last month at a rally in Nadaun, which Mr Sukhu won for the fourth time as Parliament won 40 out of 68 segments of the state and overthrew the BJP.
“There is no place for kings and queens in a democracy. In a democracy, you need to work for the people,” said Shah.
He also stressed that BJP’s Jairam Thakur, whom Mr. Sukhu is currently succeeding, has no family political legacy.
#CLOCK | People celebrate in Hamirpur’s Nadaun, home of #HimachalPradesh CM appoints Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu pic.twitter.com/cKOJzthkFs
– ANI (@ANI) December 10, 2022
Against Mr Sukhu, Pratibha Singh played for the top spot citing the legacy of “Raja” Virbhadra Singh. But Mr. Sukhu had the numbers, sources said, and his popular image helped him get it.
Another rival, Mukesh Agnihotri, also began political activity in the shadow of Virbhadra Singh, as a journalist and patron. He will be the Deputy Minister.
Sukhvinder Sukhu was one of the first members of Team Rahul. He’s also young by political standards; at 58, about a decade younger than Pratibha Singh, 66.
Sukhvinder Sukhu during the election campaign.
Choosing a leader to be workers instead of royal heirs is in line with Congress’s revived message of grassroots working – a key theme in Rahul Gandhi’s ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’. Plus, Priyanka Gandhi, who organized 10 rallies when Rahul Gandhi decided to stick with his Yatra, also played a role, it is known.
At the national level, this move also marks a disruption for the Congress. And it involved a non-Gandhi “son of the earth”, Mallikarjun Kharge, becoming the party’s leader, even though the Gandhis remained “the highest commander”.
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