He was married to Ratna Kumari, princess of Jubbal in May 1954.[16][17] They had four daughters including Abhilasha Kumari, a former judge who served on the High Court of Gujarat from 2006 to 2018.[18] Ratna Kumari died in 1983 after prolonged sickness.
Singh gained a seat in the Lok Sabha—which is the lower house of the Parliament of India—in the Indian general elections of 1962.[25] He repeated that success in the elections of 1967 and 1971. He was again elected to the Lok Sabha in 1980 and a further election to that house came in 2009, following an absence from the intervening two Lok Sabhas.[19] His wife had served a term following her victory in the 2004 elections.[26]
Aside from his role in national politics, Singh had also been elected on seven occasions to the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly.[19] The first occasion was in a by-election in October 1983, when he was returned for the Jubbal-Kotkhai constituency. He won that seat again in the 1985 elections. Thereafter, he was elected from the Rohru constituency in 1990, 1993, 1998, 2003 and 2007 and in 2012 from Shimla rural assembly constituency.[28]
Singh became the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh for the first time in April 1983 and held the post until March 1990. He was again appointed to the role between December 1993 and March 1998; and once more from March 2003. With reappointments within those years, this record amounted to him holding the office on five occasions.[19]
Between 1998 and 2003, Singh was Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly.[19] He was president of the Himachal Pradesh Congress Committee in 1977, 1979 and 1980 and from 26 August 2012 to December 2012.[29] In July 2012, he quit all key party posts at a crucial time prior to the state elections of November 2012. It has been reported that the trigger for the resignations was his exclusion from the Screening Committee for short-listing of election candidates.[30]
Singh was appointed to lead the party on the eve of the November 2012 elections and did so with success.[31] The party then agreed to him becoming Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh for a record sixth time.[32] His party lost majority in the 2017 elections and he tendered his resignation afterwards.[33]
Social and cultural activitiesedit
Outside of politics, Singh had an involvement with various social and cultural bodies. A consequence of these interests is that he was president of the Sanskrit Sahitya Sammelan and of the Himachal Pradesh branch of the Friends of the Soviet Union.[19]
Corruption chargesedit
On 3 August 2009, a legal case was registered against Singh and his wife by the Anti-Corruption Bureau of Himachal Pradesh. The allegations were that they had breached the Prevention of Corruption Act in 1989, when Singh was Chief Minister of the state. The Bureau alleged that it had evidence in recorded conversations between the couple and various others concerning suspect financial transactions.[34] The alleged recordings, which involved a now-dead officer of the Indian Administrative Service and several industrialists, dated from 2007 and were provided by a political opponent, Vijai Singh Mankotia.[35]
The couple were granted bail in December 2010, but in April 2011, the state government requested that this be rescinded due to allegations of witness tampering.[35] This request followed attempts by two industrialists to remove themselves from the prosecution case, claiming that the evidence was forged and incorrect.[36][37]
The Singhs have attempted to have the matter taken out of police hands and passed to the Central Bureau of Investigation, as well as seeking a stay on further trial court proceedings. In January 2012, the Himachal Pradesh High Court had refused the latest of their petitions aimed at achieving the transfer and stay. The court ordered that the examination of potential charges and evidence by a trial court should go ahead. On 26 June 2012, Singh resigned from the Union Cabinet as a consequence of corruption charges being pressed against him.[38] The couple were acquitted on the eve of Singh taking the role of Chief Minister in December 2012.[39]
CBI inquiryedit
In 2015 the Central Bureau of Investigation filed a case against Singh and his family for owning assets to the tune of Rs. 6.1 crore disproportionate to his known sources of income when he was the union minister between 2009 and 2011. Cases have been filed against his wife Pratibha Singh, son Vikramaditya and daughter Aparajita as well.[40][41] On Saturday, 26 September, the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) raided 11 properties of Virbhadra Singh to probe the charges of accumulating disproportionate assets. A case had been filed by the agency one day before the raids.[42] On 26 October 2015, the Indian Supreme Court turned down a CBI plea seeking stay against an earlier order issued by the Himachal Pradesh High Court granting protection from arrest and other relief to him and his wife in a disproportionate assets case. The SC, however, issued a notice to Singh and his wife, seeking response from Singh on the two petitions filed by the CBI.[43]
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh Shri Virbhadra Singh calls on the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on 2 June 2004
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh meeting the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in New Delhi on 28 June 2013
The Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia with the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Shri Mulayam Singh Yadav, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh calling on the Union Home Minister, Shri Rajnath Singh, in New Delhi on 5 June 2014
The Chief Minister Raja Virbhadra Singh introducing the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh to the State Ministers of Himachal Pradesh in Shimla, on 29 May 2005
The Union Minister of Steel, Shri Virbhadra Singh addressing a Press Conference, in New Delhi on 31 May 2010
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Shri Virbhadra Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, Jammu & Kashmir Chief Minister Shri. Ghulam Nabi Azad
Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri Prakash Singh Badal, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Pranab Mukherjee being welcomed by the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Kalyan Singh and the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh, on his arrival, at Kalyani Helipad, in Himachal Pradesh
Tarun Gogoi, the Chief Minister of Punjab, Shri Prakash Singh Badal, the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh, the Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Dr. Raman Singh, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Virbhadra Singh meeting the Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge), Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Independent Charge) and Parliamentary Affairs, Shri Prakash Javadekar, in New Delhi
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh calling on the Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, in New Delhi on 10 December 2015
Narendra Modi being welcomed by the Governor of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Acharya Devvrat and the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh, at a function, in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh 18 October 2016
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh calling on the Vice President, Shri Mohd. Hamid Ansari, in Shimla, Himachal Pradesh on 9 June 2015
The Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Shri Virbhadra Singh meeting the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Shipping, Shri Nitin Gadkari, in New Delhi on 1 August 2014
Vilasrao Deshmukh Maharashtra, Shri Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy Andhra Pradesh, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad J&K, Shri Virbhadra Singh, Himachal Pradesh
Jagat Prakash Nadda along with the Union Minister for Agriculture, Shri Radha Mohan Singh assessed the damages to crops during the unseasonal rains and hail in Himachal Pradesh
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi being briefed on structure of AIIMS, in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi launching the UDAN – Regional Connectivity Scheme for Civil Aviation - by flagging-off the first UDAN flight from Shimla
The world renowned WWF wrestler, Khali calls on the Union Minister of Steel, Shri Virbhadra Singh, in New Delhi on 10 November 2009
The Union Minister of Steel, Shri Virbhadra Singh presenting the 'Lifetime Achievement Award' of the Dalal Street Investment Journal PSU Awards-2010 to the Chairman, SAIL, Shri S.K. Roongta, in New Delhi on 6 April 2010
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External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virbhadra Singh.
Raja Virbhadra Singh: The Untold Story - Girish Suri