Referred to by locals as “tikka”, or prince, Vikramaditya Singh is the 32-year-old son of six-time Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and the MLA from Shimla Rural on whom lies the burden of taking forward his father’s towering legacy and the Congress’s hopes in next month’s Assembly elections. The emerging youth leader is a graduate of Delhi University’s Hansraj College and joined the youth wing of the Congress during his time there. In 2013, Vikramaditya began his association with the Himachal Pradesh Congress unit and was later elected president of the state youth Congress. In 2017, Vikramaditya took over from his father as the representative of Shimla Rural and that year, for the first time in the state’s history, a father-son duo took the oath of office. This time around, the MLA will be without the reassuring presence of his father who died in July 2021. For many Himachalis, the former CM’s wife Pratibha, who is now the state Congress president, and Vikramaditya are extensions of “Raja Sahab”, as Virbhadra was popularly known. At present, Vikramaditya is the general secretary of the state Congress committee in charge of communications. With his ticket nearly finalised, Vikramaditya is focusing on youth-centric issues such as jobs and education and has been vocal about local businesses and the need for a renewed focus on employment opportunities to stop the hill state’s youth from moving out. Last month, when The Indian Express followed him around on a campaign trail, Vikramaditya said, “Every time I am approached by a youngster, the main grouse is a lack of jobs. We are a state with a huge youth population and they have been abandoned by the ruling party (the BJP). There are lakhs of people without job security. Many of them are looking for jobs outside the state, which is eventually a loss for us. We have to bring the focus back to employment. Job creation is our most important party promise.”
