Punjab Election 2022: Sunil Jakhar claims 'maximum votes as CM candidate' amid tussle over CM face
Chandigarh, Feb 10: Senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar has claimed that he got maximum votes as the Chief Minister face in a survey within the state of Punjab. His statement comes at a time when the INC is mulling over deciding the chief minister in the state.
"I received the support of 42 MLAs (after Amarinder Singh quit as Punjab CM), present Punjab CM Channi received 2 MLAs' support, Sukhjinder Randhawa got 16 MLAs' support...and Navjot Singh Sidhu got 6 MLAs' support," claimed Sunil Jakhar.
Congress
chief
Sonia
Gandhi
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).