Punjab Elections 2022: 'No Surprise', Says Manish Tewari On Being Excluded From Congress' List Of Star Campaigners

Reacting to the list he posted a sarcastic tweet, "I would have been pleasantly surprised if it would have been the other way around. The reasons are also no state secret”.

New Delhi: Ahead of Punjab Assembly Polls prominent G-23 leaders of the Congress did not find space on the list of star campaigners - Manish Tewari and Ghulam Nabi Azad - which drew criticism from Tewari.Though the list names Rahu Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi & Manmohan Singh.

Reacting to this he posted a sarcastic tweet, "I would have been pleasantly surprised if it would have been the other way around. The reasons are also no state secret”.

However, Tewari on Saturday said the party will decide who will lead and be the face of the Punjab campaign. 

"As an MP and a political worker, I personally think that in a democracy the right to elect CM lies with elected MLAs. Who leads the campaign, who becomes the face of the campaign can be decided by the party," Tewari told ANI.

When asked about Navjot Singh Sidhu's statement that "people at the top" want a weak Chief Minister who can dance to their tune, he said, "Navjot Singh Sidhu's answer is Navjot Singh Sidhu himself and no one should get involved in this. No one can understand his statement," he said."

Speaking to ANI, the Congress MP also said that he is not surprised that his name is missing from the list of star campaigners. "I would have been surprised had my name been there; not surprised that it's not there. Everyone knows the reason. As far as Hindus and Sikhs are concerned, it has never been an issue in Punjab. Had it ever been an issue, I would have not been MP from Sri Anandpur Sahib," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Congress released the list of star campaigners for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections and the names of prominent G-23 leaders of the Congress Ghulam Nabi Azad and Manish Tewari were missing.

Also, barring Ambika Soni and Pratap Singh Bajwa from Punjab, many party MPs haven’t got a place in it. Whereas, the name of former Speaker of Lok Sabha Meira Kumar is included in lieu of the Dalit vote bank. At the same time, the name of Delhi Mahila Congress President Amrita Dhawan is also surprising.

Along with this, four big names of Haryana, Bhupinder Hooda, Randeep Surjewala, Deepender Hooda, and Kumari Selja have been given place. Questions have been raised that, instead of several MPs from Punjab, four leaders from Haryana were included whereas, the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) dispute of Punjab-Haryana is not hidden from anyone.