NEW DELHI : In the high-stakes battle in Himachal Pradesh’s Mandi constituency, PWD minister Vikramaditya Singh in the Congress-ruled state will contest against BJP’s actor-turned-politician Kangana Ranaut.
The Congress has also decided to field Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari from Chandigarh.
The Congress candidates were announced after a meeting of its Central Election Committee on Saturday. The party announced 16 candidates for the Lok Sabha polls, including nine for Odisha and four for Gujarat. The party is yet to announce candidates for Delhi, Punjab, and Haryana seats.
Earlier in the day, Himachal Congress chief Pratibha Singh said a young leader should be fielded against Ranaut and a consensus has been reached on his son’s candidature.
The Mandi seat is currently held by Pratibha Singh, the wife of late CM Virbhadra Singh. The constituency is considered a stronghold of the family. The move to field Vikramaditya from Mandi is also seen to placate the young minister who staged a resignation drama in February this year.
Even before the announcement of Vikramaditya’s name, a war of words broke out between him and Ranaut over her “Chhota Pappu” remark. Vikramaditya said Kangana was trying to divert the people’s attention.
In Chandigarh, Tewari will challenge BJP’s Sanjay Tandon who replaced Kirron Kher. The announcement for this seat was delayed due to the party’s internal bickering. Last month, supporters of two camps belonging to Pawan Kumar Bansal and Chandigarh Congress president HS Lucky fought.