HP: PWD Min Vikramaditya most likely to contest against Kangana

Shimla: Ruling congress in a tactical move is likely to field state PWD minister and son of six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut from Mandi Parliamentary constituency.

The development has surprised the political circles in the state ahead of the June 1 Lok Sabha poll in the state. Highly placed sources said Vikramadity Singh’s name cropped –up at the meeting of the party’s coordination committee after fielding reports favouring him as strongest and ‘winnable’ Congress candidate in the constituency. He is a two-time MLA from Shimla (rural), a seat initially retained by his father Virbhadra Singh. Earlier the congress had been seriously considering the name of PCC Pratibha Singh, who is also a sitting MP despite her reluctance to contest the seat. She is the third-time MP from Mandi. However after BJP sent a high profile star candidate to Mandi, the Congress suddenly changed strategy to make the contest decisive for the ruling party. In fact during the past three days, Vikramditya Singh—who is also currently incharge of the parliamentary constituency, had really cornered Kangana over her past statements including a controversial tweet relating to “beef” eating.

Without naming Kangana, he wrote on social media “Himachal is a sacred place of Gods and Goddesses, it is a land of Gods, where people who eat beef should not contest elections. This is a matter of concern for our culture, which has nothing to do with politics.” Earlier, he also described Kangana Ranaut as his elder sister and asserted that anybody passing indecent remarks against her will not be tolerated yet advised her to use restrain on herself. A senior member of the state coordination committee confirmed about Singh being tipped for the Congress candidacy in Mandi.