4 min readNew DelhiDec 12, 2022 07:34 AM IST
First published on: Dec 11, 2022 at 05:11 PM IST
Former Congress state chief Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu took oath as the 15th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla at 1:30 pm on Sunday (December 11).
Two days after the Congress won 40 seats in the 68-member Himachal Pradesh State Assembly, the Congress leadership on Saturday named Sukhu, 58, as the CM. Previously, there was some speculation over who might hold the top post, with the name of Pratibha Singh, the wife of the late CM Virbhadra Singh, doing the rounds.
As part of campaigning, Sukhu promised a clean and honest government and mentioned the need for employment generation, focusing on both filling existing government vacancies and on private jobs. He said it was his responsibility to fulfil the promises made by the party to the people. “We wanted to secure power not merely to be in power. We want to change the system. Give me some time. We need to work hard, struggle to bring in a new system and new thinking,” he said.
The life and career of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu
*Born on March 27, 1964, in Bhavarna village of Nadaun in Hamirpur district, Sukhu studied law at Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. His father Rasil Singh was a driver with the state roadways. As a student, he had to work multiple jobs to supplement the family’s income. After the news came in that he would become the CM, his mother recalled to reporters how Sukhu was more inclined towards continuing his education rather than working at a young age.
*Sukhu was appointed chief of the state unit of the National Students Union of India, the Congress party’s student wing in 1989. He went on to lead the state unit of the Youth Congress (1998-2008), got elected as a councillor twice (1992-2002) before entering the Vidhan Sabha as an MLA in 2003, and then lead the state Congress committee (2013-2019).
*A four-time MLA from the Nadaun constituency and the head of the Congress’s election committee, Sukhu is a popular leader. He is believed to be close to the Gandhi family, and Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were present at his oath-taking ceremony on Sunday. He thanked the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi for giving him charge of important positions previously in his career.
*As the Pradesh Congress Committee president, his tenure was marked by an acrimonious relationship with the then CM Virbhadra Singh, an extremely influential leader in the state.
“I’m committed to the party ideology. It was all issue-based — there were issues on which I supported him (Virbhadra Singh) and there were issues on which I opposed him,” Sukhu had told The Indian Express in an interview on May 13 this year.
*When asked how despite these rifts he was elevated within the party, he said in an interview with The Indian Express in 2017, “Credibility, clean image and party’s faith in me and my supporters from the state have allowed me to survive against those who pretended that without them there is no Congress in the state.”
Himachal Pradesh Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, left, administers oath to Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, right, during his swearing in ceremony at Shimla, India, Sunday, Dec.11, 2022. (AP Photo/Pradeep Kumar) 
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