Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu to take oath as Himachal Pradesh chief minister today

The oath ceremony will be held at 11 AM.

Sukhu won the election from Nadaun in the hill state's Hamirpur district.

He headed the Congress' campaign committee for the recently held state polls.

Sukhu, 58, was chosen by the Congress high command for the top post amid reported lobbying by Pratibha Singh, Congress MP and the wife of former Chief Minister and Congress veteran, the late Virbhadra Singh.

Mukesh Agnihotri will be Sukhu's deputy.

Sukhu started as an activist at Himachal Pradesh University in Shimla and headed the National Students' Union of India's state unit in the late 1980s.

He is a former president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress.

Reports said he did not have a smooth working relationship with former Congress Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who passed away in July.

Virbhadra Singh’s wife Pratibha Singh and the Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing assembly Mukesh Agnihotri—were the frontrunners in the race for chief ministership.

In her claim, Pratibha Singh had asserted that side-lining her family in the state would be disastrous for Congress as the elections were fought and won in the name of her husband—Virbhadra Singh.

However, she failed to make the cut, as she doesn’t have support among the newly-elected 40 MLAs, the reports said citing sources.

On Saturday evening, her supporters demonstrated in front of the hotel where Congress observers are staying opposing Sukhvinder Sukhu’s selection.

On Friday, they also stopped the vehicle of Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, who is one of the central observers, ahead of Congress’s crucial meeting and asserted their support for Pratibha Singh.

In the meeting, the newly-elected MLAs had allowed the party president to pick the legislature party leader, who will also be the next chief minister.

The Congress defeated BJP in the Himachal Pradesh elections, winning 40 out of 68 seats.