New Delhi: After much speculation, Congress will finally announce its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab assembly elections today. The two top names that have been competing for the post are Punjab’s current CM Charanjit Singh Channi and President of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee Navjot Singh Sidhu. The announcement will be made by Rahul Gandhi in a virtual rally in Ludhiana at around 2 PM.
To this, Navjot Singh Sidhu said that he will agree with whatever Gandhi decides. "Nothing great was ever achieved without an act of decision …. Warm welcome to our leading light Rahul Ji, who comes to give clarity to Punjab …. All will abide by his decision !!!" Sidhu tweeted.
However, there has been a lot of political banter within Congress as the party was taking time to decide on the CM face.
The decision comes when the Enforcement Directorate has arrested Charanjit Singh Channi’s nephew Bhupinder Singh Honey in a money laundering case. Channi is also accused of being involved with Honey by the BJP and AAP.
However, there is a clear resistance from the side of Sidhu who attacked his own party without naming anyone during a rally in Amritsar. Sidhu said, “People at the top want a weak chief minister who can dance to their tunes. Do you want such a CM?”
Earlier, there was a tussle between former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar and Sidhu, as Jakhar had shown his support for Channi saying he should be given a chance to show his work.
To this, Sidhu had responded that only the people of Punjab will decide the CM. He had also said that Channi was given a time of four months to show his work.
Channi had taken over the post of CM after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down and quit the party.
Meanwhile, amid this, Aam Aadmi Party’s CM candidate Bhagwant Singh Maan took a jibe at Congress saying even if they get 10 CM faces, it will not make any difference as AAP will form a government in Punjab this time.
What seems to be seen is who will be announced as the CM face, and how will the opponent react to it. Punjab will go to the polls on February 20, and the result will be declared on March 10.