Ambika Soni Refuses To Be Next Punjab CM, CLP Meet Deferred Till Members Reach A Consensus

Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said on Sunday she was asked by the central leadership to take over as the next chief minister of Punjab but she has declined the offer.

Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni

New Delhi: After Capt Amarinder Singh quit his position as the Chief Minister of Punjab on Saturday many names have been doing rounds which included senior Congress leader Ambika Soni. It was being said that the Congress high command had offered her to the next Chief Minister of Punjab but she has declined the offer.

Speaking to the media in Delhi on Sunday, Soni confirmed the same and said, “I’ve declined the offer. The party’s exercise (to elect a new CM) is going on in Chandigarh with the general secretary and observers are taking the views of all MLAs,” 

The Rajya Sabha MP also said she believes the “Punjab CM face should be a Sikh”.

“This is a belief I have always held; Punjab’s CM should be a Sikh person,” she said.

Ambika Soni told reporters. When asked whether the Congress president Sonia Gandhi has accepted her decision not to become the Punjab chief minister, she said, “When I explained my point of view to the party leader, they took my views.”

“It has been my belief, not from today but since the past 50 years, that the main face or the chief minister of Punjab should be a Sikh. It is the only state in the country where Sikhs can be made a chief minister,” she added, refusing to name the person who could become the next CM of the state.

Ambika Soni also said that the party will announce the name of the new Chief Minister later in the day.

The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting to elect the next chief minister of Punjab after Amarinder Singh resigned from the top post was deferred earlier in the day as members couldn't reach a consensus. All India Congress Committee general secretary in charge of Punjab affairs Harish Rawat and two central observers Ajay Maken and Harish Chaudhary will be present at the CLP meeting is to be held in Chandigarh.

According to ABP sources, the frontrunners for the CM position are former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs Sunil Jakhar and Partap Singh Bajwa, and current minister Sukhjinder Randhawa. MLA, former minister, and current state chief Navjot Singh Sidhu may also be considered.

According to sources, the central observers were also in touch with the party leadership in Delhi.

The sources said the party may also go in for two deputy chief ministers in order to balance the caste equations.

If the party goes for a Hindu face as the CLP leader, then a Sikh and a Dalit can be made deputy CMs, they said.