When journalists now ask Virbhadra Singh about the Congress' convincing victory in the state assembly elections, the former Himachal Pradesh chief minister will unfailingly remind them about his prediction during the poll campaign.

"I had told you that we would win between 40-45 seats. But few in the media were willing to buy that," he said.

The Congress has got 40 seats of the 65 seats for which elections were held on February 26. Elections to three seats will be held in June.

But the popular leader is not the automatic choice for the chief minister's post.

The rival claimant is Pradesh Congress Committee chief Vidya Stokes, who won from Kumarsain after trailing in the initial stages.

Virbhadra Singh told rediff.com on phone from Shimla that the Congress legislature party (CLP) would meet on March 4 in the state capital to elect its leader.

Singh and Stokes are expected to mobilise support among the Congress MLAs in the days leading to the CLP meeting.

Senior leaders Moti Lal Vohra and R K Dhawan are on Sunday expected to call party president Sonia Gandhi in Delhi and brief her about the party's performance in the state.

The duo is expected to- return to Shimla on March 3 to supervise the election of the leader of the Congress party in the state assembly.