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Shimla, Dec. 10 (PTI): Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu, who headed the Congress campaign committee in Himachal Pradesh, will be the next chief minister, the party announced on Saturday.
Mukesh Agnihotri, the leader of the opposition in the outgoing Assembly, will be the deputy chief minister, the party said after a meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP).
Sukhu, the 58-year-old MLA from Nadaun in Hamirpur district, was elected the CLP leader and will take oath as chief minister Sunday, the party said.
In a meeting Friday evening, the MLAs had unanimously passed a resolution authorising the party president to pick the legislature party leader.
The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared Thursday.
Sukhu, a former president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee, is a four-term legislator and is considered close to party leader Rahul Gandhi, they said.
He was known as a detractor of Congress veteran and six-time chief minister Virbhadra Singh, according to the sources.
The new Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister will be sworn in on December 11, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Saturday .
The veteran leader, who is on a maiden visit to his home town of Kalaburagi, after taking over as the AICC chief, urged the Karnataka Congress leaders and workers to work with unity to bring the party to power in the state, which will go to polls by April-May 2023.
"We have won in Himachal Pradesh by giving a 10-point programme. We have won there with a good majority. Tomorrow there is a swearing-in ceremony there. That's the reason I had gone out to discuss with our senior leaders," Kharge said.
"It (Himachal Pradesh) like victory should repeat in Karnataka also, everyone should join hands and march forward.... I want Congress party and the Congress government here," he added.
The Congress wrested power from the BJP in the hill state winning 40 of the 68 assembly seats. The polling was held on November 12 and the results were declared on Thursday.