Congress leader and four-time MLA Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu will today take oath as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh after the party announced his name for the top post on Saturday. Sukhu enjoyed the support of the maximum number of MLAs which paved way for his maiden tenure as the CM of the hill state. 


The Nadaun MLA was unanimously elected leader of the Congress Legislature Party. He will be the seventh person to hold the post in the state. 


Here are some facts about the to-be CM of Himachal Pradesh: 



  1. Sukhwinder Sukhu is a well-known detractor of party veteran Virbhadra Singh who had dominated Himachal Pradesh politics for over five decades.  

  2. 58-year-old Sukhu is son of a road transport corporation driver and used to run a milk counter at Chhota Shimla in his early days. 

  3. He pursued his MA and LLB from Himachal Pradesh University. 

  4. Sukhu was the general secretary of the state unit of the Congress-affiliated National Students’ Union of India (NSUI) and later became the president of the student body. 

  5. Rising from the grassroots, he was elected twice as councillor of Shimla Municipal Corporation. 

  6. He remained Congress’ state unit president for a record six years from 2013 to 2019 despite being frequently at loggerheads with Virbhadra Singh. 

  7. He won the assembly election for the first time in 2003 from Nadaun, and so far, has lost it only once in 2012. 

  8. SS Sukhu will be the first Congress leader from Lower Himachal to occupy the top post. The lower Himachal Pradesh comprises areas merged in 1966 such as Nalagarh, Una, Hamirpur, Kangra, and the lower hills of Kullu.

  9. He will be the second chief minister from Hamirpur district, after BJP’s Prem Kumar Dhumal. 

  10. He was earlier appointed as the chairman of the Congress election campaign committee. Sukhu is considered close to former party president Rahul Gandhi. 


(With PTI Inputs)