Himachal Cabinet formation after Vidhan Sabha session: CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

New Delhi, December 15

The Cabinet formation in Himachal Pradesh will take a while, with state Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday saying that the exercise would be held after the Vidhan Sabha session.

Sukhu was speaking to reporters after paying a courtesy visit to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at the latter’s residence.

He was accompanied by state unit chief Pratibha Singh and all elected MLAs, including Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri.

“The state Cabinet will be formed after the Vidhan Sabha session, which will be convened soon,” Sukhu said.

Hectic deliberations and lobbying are currently under way for Cabinet berths in the state, the first one the Congress has won since late 2018 when it wrested Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan from the BJP.

The Congress had not won a single state on its own since 2018. That makes the Himachal victory politically significant and also explains the ongoing lobbying for Cabinet posts.

A Cabinet berth hopeful Vikramaditya Singh, Shimla Rural MLA, today said he would “discharge whatever role is given to him by the party and was grateful to the people for reelecting him.”

Kasumpti MLA Anirudh Singh while speaking to reporters said that Congress president advised all MLAs to share power with the people and not forget that they were in power in the state because of the electorate.

Kharge is learnt to have asked the CM Sukhu to fill government vacancies on war footing and hit the ground running on poll promises on which the Congress would be closely watched.

This is Sukhu’s first visit to the National Capital since the party’s victory in the hill state.

Sukhu, Agnihotri and all other Himachal Congress MLAs, meanwhile, left for Rajasthan this evening to participate in the Bharat Jodo yatra which completes 100 days on Friday.

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had invited all state leaders to join him as the yatra crosses a milestone tomorrow.