Amid a show of strength, Pratibha Singh, the wife of former Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Mandi MP, on Thursday assumed charge as Himachal Pradesh Congress chief with all leaders focussing on Virbhadra’s legacy and unity to return to power in the state.

Former Union Minister and state in-charge Rajeev Shukla, co-in-charge Sanjay Dutt, the Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri and Campaign Committee head Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu attended the rally at Chaura Maidan in Shimla among other state party leaders.

Shukla and other leaders who addressed the gathering called for contesting upcoming assembly polls unitedly and heaped praises on late CM Virbhadra Singh for carrying out all-around development in Himachal.

Addressing the public meeting, the newly appointed PCC chief Pratibha Singh took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for failing to reign in the price rise issue in the country and said he along with Union Minister Smriti Irani used to cry foul over the hike in LPG cylinder prices during 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Modi and Irani sought votes by slamming the then PM Manmohan Singh government for price rises and people voted for them but after coming into power, they did nothing to control the situation.

Modi had even promised 2 crore jobs in a year and if he had delivered on these promises, 14 crore youth would have gotten employment in his seven years of rule. Though all these promises seemed to be mere poll agenda and nothing concrete was done on the ground, she added.

She stated that Virbhadra Singh was a mass leader who had worked for the welfare of all sections of the society and the people used to tell her about the development works carried out by him, instead of her doing so to seek votes during by-poll to the Mandi Lok Sabha seat.

She lashed at the Modi government for failing to tackle the Covid pandemic situation effectively and said the mismanagement led to corpses being thrown into the rivers and people dying of the lack of oxygen.

The BJP-led government at the Centre government also failed to resolve the farmers’ protest which led to the death of over 700 farmers on the borders of the national capital Delhi.

Singh also criticized the state government for failing to provide any relief to horticulturalists who suffered losses in the recent dry spells and also the government employees who were forced to resort to protests to get their demands including that of the Old Pension scheme, fulfilled.