Virbhadra Singh takes oath as HP CM
posted on Dec 25, 2012 @ 2:51PM
Senior Congress leader Virbhadra Singh has taken over as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh at 10.40 am today. He has been in the post for the record sixth time and for a period of 16 years.
State Governor Urmila Singh has administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 78 year old Singh as the 13th chief minister of the state. A nine member ministry was also sworn in along with Singh. They are Vidya Stokes, Kaul Singh Thakur, G S Bali, Sujan Singh Pathania, Thakur Singh Bharmauri, Mukesh Agnihotri, Sudhir Sharma, Prakash Chowdhary and Dhani Ram Shandil.
He entered the politics at the young age of 28. Singh was in the position for the first time on 8 April, 1983. He brought Congress to the power in the recent assembly polls. The Congress has now 36 MLAs in the 68 member house. One independent legislator has extended the support to Congress.
In a major relief to the old war horse, a court in Shimla has acquitted him of the charges of corruption and conspiracy in the audio CD case.