Monday, March 6 2006 18:11 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Vir Bhadra Singh today (Mar 06 2006) ruled out the possibilty of following the footsteps of his Uttaranchal counterpart N D Tiwari who has announed his retirement from active politice citing his old age.

"I am as active and agile as ever before and work as hard as I did when first became the Chief Minsiter," Singh, who will turn 72 in June this year, told sources, adding that drawing a parallel between him and Tiwari, who had offered to step down due to age factor, was "not logical as agility and capacity to work had no corelation with age."

Singh said it was for the party high command to decide where and in what capacity he should serve.

The Chief Minister said he would continue to serve the people with same zeal as long as the people of the state wished him to do so.

Singh said he had completed 5,202 days as Chief Minister and had the distiction of serving at the post for the longest duration among the current Chief Ministers.