CM Virbhadra Singh files papers from Arki
STRATEGY The octogenarian leader says he opted for a seat from where the Congress hasn’t won in two decades
SHIMLA:Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh filed his nomination papers from Arki Vidhan Sabha constituency in Solan district on Friday morning.
“I had announced that I will be contesting from a seat where the Congress has not been able to win for past two decades,” Virbhadra told reporters after submitting his papers to returning officer Isha Thakur.
Virbhadra was accompanied by his wife and former member parliament (MP) Pratibha Singh and son Vikramaditya Singh.
The family reached the sub-divisional magistrate’s office at 11.30am where Congress workers welcomed them.
The BJP won from Arki in the past two elections.
Virbhadra is hopeful Vikramaditya will get to contest from Shimla Rural, which he represented.
Though he denied factionalism in the Congress, he said, “The state party chief (Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu), shouldn’t have contested.”
He said he would redress the grievances of the rebels.
Virbhadra’s loyalist Harish Janartha has threatened to change the candidate from Shimla. Janartha was the Congress candidate in the last elections and is a former deputy mayor of the Shimla Municipal Corporation.
Later, addressing a gathering at Shallaghat, the chief minister reiterated that the party is united.
Local Congress leaders put up a united face and backed Virbhadra.
The Congress decided to field Virbhadra from Arki after a meeting on ticket allocation in Delhi on Wednesday.
The party had last won the seat in 2003 when Dharampal Thakur defeated Govind Ram Sharma.
Thakur was denied the ticket in 2008 but he contested as an independent and lost to Sharma, who won the 2012 elections too.