Late Virbhadra Singh was one of longest serving chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh. 

He first became chief minister in April 1983 and went on to serve the state for another five terms. In fact since 1962, he had either been a legislator (nine times) or a Member of Parliament (five terms).

Born into a royal family of Sarahan in Shimla district on 23 June 1934, Singh was anointed the king at the age of 13 in 1947. 

He studied at Bishop Cotton School in Shimla before graduating from Delhi's St Stephen’s College. 

An honorary captain of the Indian Army, Singh remained till the end one of the most widely respected leaders of the hill state. 

An old-school politician, Singh, fondly called Raja Sahib, used a rare combination of wit and charm to overcome every political challenge that came his way both from within the party and outside.

Singh’s first stint as the Chief Minister began in 1983 when he was sent by the Congress high command to replace then its tallest leader Ram Lal, who was caught in a controversy over large-scale felling of trees. 

His first innings lasted till 1990 when he was succeeded by Shanta Kumar of the BJP. 

Singh was also dogged by corruption charges. It was the Dhumal government that first charged him with corruption in what came to be known as the CD case but the CBI gave him a clean chit in 2012 just before his re-election as the Chief Minister. 

In 2015, the CBI 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. 

He and his wife Pratibha Singh were chargesheeted in the case in 2019 and were at present facing trial.

Singh fought and won his last assembly election from Arki in 2017, vacating his traditional constituency of Shimla-Rural, for his son Vikramaditya Singh.

Singh died on 8 July 2021 in Shimla at the age of 87 years. 

In the second and third picture, he is seen with former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.