Congress May Field This Leader Against Kangana Ranaut In Himachal's Mandi

Amid a drama over the Congress nominee for Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha seat against the Bharatiya Janata Party's Kangana Ranaut, state Congress chief Pratibha Singh on Saturday said that the party leaders believe that a young leader should be fielded so a consensus has been reached on the name of Vikramaditya Singh.

"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," she said.

After the meeting, Himachal Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that discussions were held for our 4 seats. A ticket for Mandi will also be announced soon.

Party senior leader Rajeev Shukla said, "The entire discussion in the meeting was about Himachal Pradesh. Candidates for two places have been finalised, and the remaining two places are still under consideration."

Meanwhile, slamming Bharatiya Janata Party 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, 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. The polling on these four seats, along with six Assembly seats in Himachal Pradesh that fell vacant following the disqualification of Congress MLAs will be held on June 1.

The BJP had won all four seats in 2019. The counting will be done on June 4.

The Mandi constituency is considered a stronghold of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh's family.
The seat is currently held by the late leader's wife Pratibha Singh. She was elected after a by-election in 2021, after the seat was vacated after the death of BJP MP Ram Swaroop Sharma.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)