Dharamshala, Sept. 30 -- Former Himachal Pradesh cabinet minister and five-time Shahpur MLA Major Vijai Singh Mankotia (retd) passed away on Tuesday morning following a heart attack at his ancestral home in Tiara village, Kangra district. He was 87. His last rites will be performed on Wednesday. An army veteran, Mankotia launched his political career by winning his first assembly election as an Independent from Shahpur in 1982. His political trajectory was marked by frequent shifts across party lines: He contested under the Janata Dal banner in the 1990s, spearheaded the BSP Himachal Pradesh campaign in 2007, returned briefly to the Congress, and eventually joined the BJP in 2022. HTC...