A day after the Congress announced her candidature from the Mandi parliamentary constituency, former MP Pratibha Singh said her poll planks will be the developmental work carried out by her late husband, six-time Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh, and the BJP government’s anti-people policies.

“Though he (Virbhadra Singh) is not among the people anymore, the developmental projects undertaken under his tenure have not been forgotten,” said Pratibha, adding that though Mandi was the home turf of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, no major development works had been undertaken in the district over the last four years,

“Development in the state, including the Mandi parliamentary constituency, has virtually come to a standstill. Inflation and unemployment are on the rise and almost all sections of society are angry,” she said.

Confident of her chances of winning, Pratibha said, “Mandi is not new turf for me. I have represented the Lok Sabha constituency twice, while my husband had been elected from Mandi thrice.”

“The election will be challenging, but people of the state wanted me to contest the election. People want to pay tribute to Virbhadra Singh for the development he has done in the state. We will also take up farmers and apple growers’ issues,” she said.

Pratibha Singh won the first election from Mandi in 2004. In 2012, Virbhadra Singh who was then MP from Mandi, vacated the seat to return as chief minister of Himachal Pradesh and Pratibha Singh fought the 2013 byelection, which she won by a margin of more than 1.36 lakh votes, defeating the incumbent chief minister Jai Ram Thakur who was the BJP candidate.

(With inputs from agencies)