Will strive to fulfil promises made to Mandi: Vikramaditya Singh

Shimla, June 5

Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh yesterday said that he would try to fulfil the promises he had made to the people of the Mandi parliamentary constituency despite his defeat to Kangana Ranaut in the elections.

“Victory and defeat are part and parcel of electoral battles, we need to take them in our strides. My vision for Mandi was not just for the elections. I will continue to push for the development of the constituency,” he said in a press conference here.

Vikramaditya saw the proverbial silver lining in the defeat and said that he got around 45 per cent of the total votes cast. “At 34 years of age, it’s more of a profit than loss. I will build up on this for the future,” he added.

He said that the 4-2 victory of the Congress in the six Assembly byelections had strengthened the stability of the state government. The byelection results were a rejection of the BJP’s politics of horse trading and the use of other unfair means, he added. Vikramaditya said that the election results at the national level, especially in Uttar Pradesh, were a massive setback to the BJP.

Meanwhile, HPCC president Pratibha Singh said that the party fought well but would need to look into the reasons for defeat on all seats in the Lok Sabha elections.