• Source:JND
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Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, a congress leader took oath as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday. Sukhvinder, a four-time MLA from Nadaun in Hamirpur district, is a lawyer by education and is a product of student politics who emerged from the Congress wing National Student Union of India (NSUI) and has dominated the Himachal Pradesh politics for over five decades until his demise last year.

Here's all you need to know about Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister:

*Sukhu is the first Congress leader from Lower Himachal -- comprising areas merged in Himachal in 1966 such as Nalagarh, Una, Hamirpur, Kangra and lower hills of Kullu -- to occupy the top post.

*Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu will be the second chief minister from Hamirpur district, after BJP's Prem Kumar Dhumal.

*Son of a road transport corporation driver, Sukhu, 58, had a modest beginning and used to run a milk counter at Chhota Shimla in his early days.

*Sukhu was a relentless fighter, who rose through the ranks and remained the party's state unit president for a record six years from 2013 to 2019 despite being frequently at loggerheads with Virbhadra Singh, a six-time chief minister.

*Sukhu's elevation makes it clear that the party is ready to move on and he was named Himachal CM after rejecting Pratibha Singh's claim who is the party's state unit chief and wife of Virbhadra Singh.

*New Himachal CM, during his tenure as the state Congress chief, strengthened the organisation and his rapport with workers and legislators made him a strong contender for the chief minister's post.

*Sukhu was the general secretary of the state unit of the Congress-affiliated National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and later became the president of the student body.

*Graduating to a full-time political career, he was president of the state Youth Congress in the 2000s. He did his MA and LLB from Himachal Pradesh University.

*Rising from the grassroots, he was elected twice as a councillor of Shimla Municipal Corporation.

*Sukhu won the assembly election for the first time in 2003 from Nadaun, retained the seat in 2007 but was defeated in 2012 and won again in 2017 and 2022