Charanjit Singh Channi will be Congress’ Chief Ministerial face for Punjab, Rahul Gandhi announced on Sunday, ahead of forthcoming assembly elections to be held in one single phase on February 20. Rahul Gandhi declared the name in Ludhiana during a virtual rally.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress’ state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu were the main contenders to be the CM face for the party though both have assured Gandhi that whosoever was chosen they will stand by the decision.
During his last visit to Punjab on January 27, Gandhi while addressing a virtual rally in Jalandhar had announced that the Congress will soon declare its chief ministerial face for the February 20 elections and a decision on it will be taken after consulting party workers.
Senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, meanwhile, told a TV channel that in his personal opinion there should be a status quo as far as an announcement of the CM face is concerned. He further said there was not going to be a “big gain” with the announcement of the chief ministerial candidate.
Besides taking feedback from the leaders and workers of the party, the Congress sought the opinion of the public on who should be its CM candidate through an automated call system.
In the tele-survey, the voters were given three options–Channi, Sidhu or go without CM face–through a pre-recorded message.
The Congress was under pressure for announcing its CM candidate particularly when the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), which is also the main contender for power in the multi-cornered electoral contest, named Bhagwat Mann as its chief ministerial face.
Earlier, the Congress had been maintaining that it would go to the polls under collective leadership.
For the last several weeks, both Channi and Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case to be declared as the party’s nominee for the top post.
Certain party leaders threw their weight behind Channi who is the first Dalit chief minister of Punjab.
There is a feeling in the Congress that Channi could bring electoral gains to the party especially in areas where there is a sizeable number of scheduled caste population and the ruling party would like to consolidate the SC vote bank.
