Virbhadra tells party to declare CM candidate

Adopting a more aggressive posture ahead of the state’s upcoming Assembly polls,Union minister for Micro,Small and Medium Enterprises Virbhadra Singh,on Monday,told the party High Command to declare Congress’s Chief Ministerial candidate well in advance as Punjab’s experiment of announcing the leader at the 11th hour failed to pay off.

Singh,who arrived here last evening for his proposed ‘get-together’ with loyalist MLAs and other leaders said “The people of the state should have no doubt as to who will lead the next government.” When asked why it did not work in Punjab despite Capt Amarinder Singh being projected as Chief Ministerial nominee,Singh said “it was announced too late.”

He said the congress was not opposed to opening of private universities but would not allow them to commit illegalities and cheat students. “If there is a complaint against any private university,Congress will order a probe on return to power.”

Earlier in the day,Union minister of state for Planning Ashwani Kumar,when asked about demand for declaring a leader said “It is a decision which the party high command will take at an appropriate time. Virbhadra Singh is a very senior leader. Yet every leader is within his right to have a legitimate ambition in politics.”