People want Virbhadra’s kin to contest elections: Pratibha

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Congress chief Pratibha Singh on Friday said the people of the state want somebody from her family to contest this Lok Sabha election, another sign that she has changed her stand on not contesting the polls.

“People have a sentimental attachment with former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and that is the reason why people always support our family and want somebody from this family to contest this election,” she told PTI on Friday.

Wife of Virbhadra Singh and the mother of Public Works Department (PWD) Minister Vikramaditya Singh, Pratibha Singh, who is an MP from Mandi, had last week announced not to contest the election as the ground situation was “not favourable” and workers were “disheartened”.

However, she changed her stand on Thursday saying, “If the central Congress leadership gives me the command to contest Lok Sabha elections from the Mandi seat, I will follow.”

Her statement came after a meeting of the six-member committee constituted by the Congress to ensure better coordination, chalk out the strategy and discuss the names of probables was held on Wednesday. “Whenever the Congress was in power and Virbhadra Singh was the CM, he always worked for the development of the state and whatever development you see around, was done by him,” she said and appealed to the voters to wholeheartedly support the Congress as the party has worked for the development of the state.