SHIMLA: A day after 11 Congress MLAs came out in the support of former chief minister Virbhardra Singh to counter the attack launched by former state party president Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, it was the turn of Sukhu’s camp to showcase its strength on Tuesday.Four former state presidents, six sitting MLAs, six former MLAs and a former MP openly backed Sukhu.In a statement, Congress leaders including former state presidents Vidya Stokes, Viplove Thakur, Kaul Singh and Kuldeep Kumar; former MP Chaudhary Chander Kumar; sitting MLAs Ram Lal Thakur, Harshvardhan Chauhan, Anirudh Singh, Lakhvinder Rana, Sunder Singh Thakur, Satpal Raizada; former MLAs Rajesh Dharmani, Rakesh Kalia, Sohan Lal, Ajay Majahan, Kishori Lal and Ravi Thakur lauded the tenure of Sukhu as the party’s state president.They claimed that under Sukhu, the party was strengthened at the grass roots in the state. They said youth were given due representation in the organisation along with experienced leaders.On Monday, Congress MLAs — Asha Kumari, Dhani Ram Shandil, I D Lakhanpal, Nand Lal,, Jagat Singh Negi, Rajender Rana, Mohan Lal Brakta, Vikramaditya Singh, Vinay Kumar, Ashish Butail and Pawan Kajal — had said Virbhadra was not only the senior most leaders of Himachal Pradesh, but also of country as he had worked with Prime Ministers right from Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru to Dr Manmohan Singh. They had condemned the statement of Sukhu against Virbhadra.They had said Sukhu was the state president for the past six years and considering his ineffective working, Congress president Rahul Gandhi took the decision to replace him before the parliamentary elections.

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