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SHIMLA: Senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi on Monday unveiled a statue of six-time Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, Virbhadra Singh, at Daulat Singh Park on the historic Ridge Ground in Shimla.
Congress Parliamentary Party (CPP) chairperson Gandhi, accompanied by her daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, paid floral tributes to the late leader after inaugurating the statue.
The six-foot-tall bronze statue is placed near statues of notable leaders such as YS Parmar, the first chief minister of Himachal Pradesh, Mahatma Gandhi and former prime ministers Indira Gandhi and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
There was a huge turnout at the event and police have beefed up security measures.
A company linked to renowned sculptor Ram V Sutar and his son Anil Ram Sutar built the statue at Rs 40 lakh — Rs 24 lakh for construction and Rs 16 lakh for installation. Ram Sutar was also behind the 182-ft Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue built to honour Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.
Scion of the Rampur-Bushahr royal family, Virbhadra Singh first took office as chief minister on April 8, 1983 and spent the next four decades in public life, becoming the CM five more times. He died in 2021 after a prolonged illness.
His wife, Pratibha Singh, is the state party chief and his son, Vikramaditya Singh, is the Public Works Minister in the Himachal Pradesh government.
The statue unveiling and a rally that followed, were organised by Vikramaditya Singh, who is also the chairman of the Raja Virbhadra Singh Foundation.
The statue’s unveiling was initially planned for Virbhadra’s birth anniversary on June 23, but was postponed.
A huge number of party workers and the general public turned up for the event. Security was tightened and around 400 police personnel were deployed for the event.
The city was divided into five security sectors with a special plan for traffic and parking. The movement of transport and utility vehicles and heavy vehicles within the city was suspended till 3 pm.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri, HPCC president Pratibha Singh, as well as Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi, Sachin Pilot, and Deepender Hooda were present at the event.
The Congress’s state in charge, Rajni Patil, cabinet ministers of the state and Congress leader Rajiv Shukla also attended the statue unveiling. (AGENCIES)
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