Lok Sabha elections: Pratibha Singh says 'consensus reached' on Vikramaditya's name for Mandi seat

Lok Sabha elections: Pratibha Singh says ‘consensus reached’ on Vikramaditya’s name for Mandi seat

NEW DELHI: Ending suspense over who would contest from Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi seat on the Congress ticket for upcoming Lok Sabha polls, party’s state unit chief Pratibha Singh on Saturday confirmed that “consensus has been reached on the name of Vikramaditya Singh.

However, she said the final decision on the Mandi seat rests with the high command.

After the meeting with Himachal chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, she said party leaders have agreed that a young candidate should be fielded from the Mandi seat.

Pratibha Singh said discussions were held on all four seats and a ticket for Mandi will be announced soon.

“Discussions were held on the 2-3 names that we shortlisted. It depends on the high command, on Mallikarjun Kharge, and on what names they approve. All our senior leaders believe that this time a young leader should be fielded. So, a consensus has been reached on the name of Vikramaditya Singh. The names will be finalised soon,” said Pratibha Singh, who is the incumbent MP from Mandi.

The Mandi constituency is considered a stronghold of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh’s family.

Party senior leader Rajeev Shukla said, “Candidates for two places have been finalised, and the remaining two places are still under consideration”.

Meanwhile, slamming Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and actress Kangana Ranaut for her “Chhota Pappu” remark, Himachal Pradesh minister Vikramaditya Singh said on Thursday that he would pray to Lord Ram to give her some “good sense.”

In a video message, Vikramaditya Singh said that Kangana Ranaut is trying to mislead people and divert the issues of the state and challenged her to have a debate with him.

“We respect our elder sister Kangana Ranaut. Today she was addressing the people of Manali. Instead of speaking against Congress party and its leaders, it would have been good, if she would have taken up and talked about the issues on the biggest disaster of the century, which happened in Manali a few months ago,” Singh said.

Himachal Pradesh has four Lok Sabha seats and polling will be held on June 1, along with six assembly seats that fell vacant after the disqualification of Congress MLAs.

The BJP had won all four seats in 2019. The counting will be done on June 4. However, the Mandhi seat was vacated after the death of BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma, following which Pratibha Singh won the by-election in 2021.

(With PTI inputs)

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