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Journalism of Courage
A four-time Congress MLA, Mukesh Agnihotri, 60, has been the Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly after being elected as the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader following the November 2017 state Assembly polls.
Before joining politics, Agnihotri worked as a journalist for more than a decade, during which he also served as a member of the Himachal State Press Advisory Committee, Government Pahari Language Committee, and other panels.
Mentored by Himachal Congress stalwart and six-time chief minister late Virbhadra Singh, Agnihotri contested his first election in 2003 from the Santokgarh Assembly seat in Una district. He was re-elected from the constituency in 2007. He went on to win from the Haroli constituency, which was known as Santokhgarh before delimitation, in the 2012 and 2017 Assembly polls.
Agnihotri was inducted into the previous Virbhadra Singh Cabinet as industry minister with additional portfolios, including labour and employment, parliamentary affairs, information and public relations, from 2012 to 2017.
He was appointed as the parliamentary secretary and Housing Board chairman in 2003. He had been a member of various House panels including the Committees on Subordinate Legislation, General Development, Public Accounts, and Human Development between 2008 and 2012.
As the LoP, Agnihotri has aggressively led the Congress in the House, raising crucial issues like corruption, price rise and unemployment to corner the Jairam Thakur-led BJP government ahead of the Assembly elections slated for next month.
In the faction-ridden HP Congress, Agnihotri has emerged as one of the leading party contenders for the CM’s post in the run-up to the polls. However, another formidable challenge facing the grand old party is to ensure a united face as it looks to oust the BJP from power, riding the hill state’s history since 1990s of not repeating the incumbent government.
