Himachal Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday assumed full charge of the election-bound state after the Congress appointed him as the campaign committee chairman, setting aside the nomination of state unit chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu to the post.
Virbhadra is learnt to have played tough ball with the party’s central leadership after vice president Rahul Gandhi projected him as the chief ministerial face in Himachal, but placed all key poll-related committees in the hands of arch-rival Sukhu.
The chief minister was to address a joint press conference with AICC General Secretary Sushilkumar Shinde and Sukhu at the Congress headquarters here which was cancelled at the last moment.
Vibhadra instead drove to Rahul’s residence for a meeting, during which he agreed to make the octogenarian chief minister the chairman of the campaign committee.
DH
