Many in Pb Cong want Channi to be CM face top brass says fighting polls under collective leadership
Chandigarh Jan 22 PTI There is a growing clamour within the Punjab Congress over the need to declare a chief ministerial candidate for next months assembly polls with many senior leaders throwing their weight behind Charanjit Singh Channi the states first chief minister from the schedule caste communityThough the Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a collective leadership many leaders in its state unit are seeking that the air surrounding the issue be cleared at the earliestThe party had declared its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the elections in 2012 and 2017 senior leader and minister Brahm Mohindra said adding that Channi has proved himself in the role in just three monthsThere should not be any confusion in the party about announcing the CM candidate when there is already one who has proved himself beyond everybodys expectations he saidChanni became chief minister last year after Amarinder Singh was made to resign from the post by the CongressThe clamour on the issue grows in the Congress state unit in the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party AAP which is emerging as strong contender for the polls declaring its MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate The Shiromani Akali Dal SAD which has been the Congress main rival may not have formally named its candidate for the chief ministers post but its president Sukhbir Singh Badal is the likely choiceThe need to declare a chief ministerial candidate becomes more important for the Congress as the AAP has named Bhagwant Mann as its candidate while the SAD are projecting Sukhbir Badal for the post Mohindra saidMohindras cabinet colleague Rana Gurjeet Singh has too thrown his weight behind Channi saying raising a question mark about his continuation as chief minister after the party comes back to power can prove to suicidalChanni has done an exceedingly outstanding job in just three months Rana Gurjeet Singh saidCabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia are also backing the idea of having Channi as chief ministers if the party succeed in the pollsHowever Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala who was in Chandigarh this week while replying to a question on the issue said Sidhu ji Punjab Congress ke sardar hain Navjot Singh Sidhu is Punjab Congress chief Channi ji government ke sardar hain Channi is chief minister and we will contest elections under collective leadership A survey Who should be the CM face of the Congress in Punjab on Twitter by Nikhil Alva an aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shows that Channi is the choice with maximum 687 per cent of the total 1283 voters in the survey responding in his favourWhile this may not be a party survey but it also showed that 115 per cent voters batted for Sidhu followed by 93 per cent in favour of Sunil Jakhar while 104 per cent said there was no need for a chief ministerial cnadidateThe Congress on January 17 shared a short video showing actor Sonu Sood whose sister is contesting on a party ticket from Moga saying the real CM will be the one who deserves to be at the post and not that person who declares himself to be the chief ministerial candidateThe 36-second video on Twitter which was retweeted by the Punjab Congress ends with visuals of Charanjit Singh Channi at different programmes and eventsEven Channi who is from the scheduled caste community which enjoys a sizeable presence in the state had recently said that the Congress should declare its chief ministerial candidate and pointed out that it has been seen in the past that doing so has favoured the party reap electoral gainsThe Congress has gone on a counter offensive following attacks by opposition parties including the AAP the SAD and the BJP in the wake of the recent Enforcement Directorate ED raids in which cash amounting to over Rs 10 crore including about Rs 8 crore was seized from a relative of Channi in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in the poll-bound stateThe partys state unit has launched a campaign on social media stating that the entire state is with Charanjit Singh Channi and blaming the BJP-led Centre for trying to defame Punjabs first chief minister from the scheduled caste community PTI SUN VSD ANB ANB
Chandigarh Jan 22 PTI There is a growing clamour within the Punjab Congress over the need to declare a chief ministerial candidate for next months assembly polls with many senior leaders throwing their weight behind Charanjit Singh Channi the states first chief minister from the schedule caste communityThough the Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a collective leadership many leaders in its state unit are seeking that the air surrounding the issue be cleared at the earliestThe party had declared its chief ministerial candidate ahead of the elections in 2012 and 2017 senior leader and minister Brahm Mohindra said adding that Channi has proved himself in the role in just three monthsThere should not be any confusion in the party about announcing the CM candidate when there is already one who has proved himself beyond everybodys expectations he saidChanni became chief minister last year after Amarinder Singh was made to resign from the post by the CongressThe clamour on the issue grows in the Congress state unit in the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party AAP which is emerging as strong contender for the polls declaring its MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate The Shiromani Akali Dal SAD which has been the Congress main rival may not have formally named its candidate for the chief ministers post but its president Sukhbir Singh Badal is the likely choiceThe need to declare a chief ministerial candidate becomes more important for the Congress as the AAP has named Bhagwant Mann as its candidate while the SAD are projecting Sukhbir Badal for the post Mohindra saidMohindras cabinet colleague Rana Gurjeet Singh has too thrown his weight behind Channi saying raising a question mark about his continuation as chief minister after the party comes back to power can prove to suicidalChanni has done an exceedingly outstanding job in just three months Rana Gurjeet Singh saidCabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia are also backing the idea of having Channi as chief ministers if the party succeed in the pollsHowever Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala who was in Chandigarh this week while replying to a question on the issue said Sidhu ji Punjab Congress ke sardar hain Navjot Singh Sidhu is Punjab Congress chief Channi ji government ke sardar hain Channi is chief minister and we will contest elections under collective leadership A survey Who should be the CM face of the Congress in Punjab on Twitter by Nikhil Alva an aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi shows that Channi is the choice with maximum 687 per cent of the total 1283 voters in the survey responding in his favourWhile this may not be a party survey but it also showed that 115 per cent voters batted for Sidhu followed by 93 per cent in favour of Sunil Jakhar while 104 per cent said there was no need for a chief ministerial cnadidateThe Congress on January 17 shared a short video showing actor Sonu Sood whose sister is contesting on a party ticket from Moga saying the real CM will be the one who deserves to be at the post and not that person who declares himself to be the chief ministerial candidateThe 36-second video on Twitter which was retweeted by the Punjab Congress ends with visuals of Charanjit Singh Channi at different programmes and eventsEven Channi who is from the scheduled caste community which enjoys a sizeable presence in the state had recently said that the Congress should declare its chief ministerial candidate and pointed out that it has been seen in the past that doing so has favoured the party reap electoral gainsThe Congress has gone on a counter offensive following attacks by opposition parties including the AAP the SAD and the BJP in the wake of the recent Enforcement Directorate ED raids in which cash amounting to over Rs 10 crore including about Rs 8 crore was seized from a relative of Channi in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in the poll-bound stateThe partys state unit has launched a campaign on social media stating that the entire state is with Charanjit Singh Channi and blaming the BJP-led Centre for trying to defame Punjabs first chief minister from the scheduled caste community PTI SUN VSD ANB ANB
