Virbhadra Singh to be Himachal CM for 6th time

Virbhadra Singh, who successfully spearheaded the Congress campaign in the Assembly polls, will be the next Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

78-year-old Singh, President of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), was named leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) by AICC General Secretary Janardan Dwivedi after his appointment was approved by Sonia Gandhi.

Earlier, the CLP attended by 34 out of 36 Congress members, authorised Gandhi to appoint the CLP leader.

Dwivedi, who was the central observer, made the announcement after a four-hour-long meeting of the CLP.

A five-time Chief Minister, Singh first took over the top post on 8^th April 1983 and again became CM on 5^th March 1985 after mid term polls.

Congress lost the elections in 1990 under his leadership but he again brought the party back in power and took over as CM for the third time on 3^rd December 1993.

The Congress emerged a single largest party in the hung assembly in 1998 and Singh was again sworn in as CM on 5^th March 1998 but he failed to win the trust vote and resigned.

In 2003 polls, the Congress bounced back to power and Singh was again elected as leader of the CLP and assumed office of the CM on 6^th March 2003.

Singh was elected to Assembly in December 2007 polls but the party failed to win majority.

He contested the Lok Sabha polls in 2009 from Mandi and was inducted as cabinet minister in the Manmohan Singh government.

He resigned from the Cabinet on 26^th June 2012 after framing of charges against him by a local court.