Punjab Election 2022: People at top want weak CM who can dance to tunes, says Sidhu
Chandigarh, Feb 04: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday took an apparent dig at the party high command, saying people at the top wanted a weak chief minister.
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"If a new Punjab has to be made, it is in the hands of the Chief Minister. You [voters] have to choose the CM this time. People at the top want a weak CM who can dance to their tunes. Do you want such a CM," asked Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu amid sloganeering by his supporters.
The
names
of
CM
Charanjit
Singh
Channi,
Navjot
Sidhu
and
Sunil
Jakhar
is
doing
rounds
for
the
top
post.
The
Congress
has
started
discussions
with
party
leaders
and
workers
to
pick
its
chief
ministerial
face
in
poll-bound
Punjab,
where
it
is
seeking
to
retain
power.
Over the past several weeks, Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case for themselves to be declared as the party's chief ministerial candidate.
The Congress is putting its weight behind Channi, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. SCs and STs have been a traditional vote bank of the Congress, but they drifted away from the party following the emergence of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and some other small groups.
The Congress is now seeking to consolidate the SC vote bank, which comprises almost one-third of Punjab's population, by choosing Channi to replace former chief minister Amarinder Singh.
A three-time MLA from Chamkaur Sahib, Channi is the first Dalit chief minister of Punjab. The Congress has fielded him from two seats -- Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur -- in the state assembly polls that will be held on February 20.
He is the only party candidate to be fielded from two seats. The Congress has followed the 'one family, one seat' formula in allocating tickets to its candidates in Punjab.
The Congress is pitted against the AAP, the SAD-BSP and the BJP that has joined hands with Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress and Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa's Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt).