Punjab polls: Sidhu or Channi? Rahul Gandhi to announce Congress' CM face today

Chandigarh, Feb 06: The Congress is expected to declare its chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab assembly polls on Sunday with all eyes on party leader Rahul Gandhi who is likely to announce the name.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Congress' state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu are 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. Rahul Gandhi will declare the name during his visit to Ludhiana on Sunday during a virtual rally, said a party leader, who did not want to be named, on Saturday.

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 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. Though the CM face is expected to be known on Sunday, 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.

The party fielded Channi from a second seat from Bhadaur in Barnala district, a move which was aimed to counter the influence of the AAP in the Malwa region. Channi is also contesting from his home turf Chamkaur Sahib seat in Rupnagar.

Punjab has 31.94 per cent SC population, the highest proportion among all states in the country. It has a sizeable population of the SC community in Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Nawanshahr districts in the state's Doaba region. Navjot Sidhu said a CM face would decide whether 60 candidates are elected as MLAs or not, without naming any party, but his remark came ahead of the announcement of the chief ministerial face by the Congress.

Notably, a party needs 59 seats out of total 117 assembly segments for forming the government in Punjab.

The former cricketer said he was never a "worshipper of power". "But today Punjab has to decide a big thing. A person will become CM if there are 60 MLAs. Nobody is talking about 60 MLAs. Nobody talks about on which roadmap the government will be formed," he said.

Sidhu also stressed that a person who has a roadmap for Punjab and who enjoys the people's trust can only ensure 60 contestants getting elected as legislators. On Thursday, his wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu had said irrespective of who becomes the chief minister, her husband is a hero and will remain so.

Her remark came when asked about her husband's political future if he does not become the chief minister of Punjab. Voting for Punjab's 117 Assembly seats will be held on February 20 and counting of votes will take place on March 10.