Chandigarh: Amid the ongoing three-dimensional political slugfest in poll-bound Punjab, Congress state president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Tuesday said that it is the people who will choose the next Chief Minister of the state.
When asked about Congress naming him the chief ministerial candidate in Punjab Assembly Elections, Sidhu asked: who told you that the (Congress) high command will make the CM?"
While interacting with media in the absence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Cabinet colleagues, the cricketer-turned-politician unveiled first set of plans in his Punjab Model with a focus on resurrection of the state.
"Punjab Model is people's model, an effort to give a roadmap to return power to people," the leader said.
In order to counter powerful "media model", Sidhu said a model is needed to redistribute state resources and give power back to rightful beneficiaries.
If Congress returns to power in Punjab, Sidhu promised of setting up state-run corporations in liquor, mining, transport, cable television and river water to rejuvenate state's financial resources and check revenue pilferages in the next five years.
He also boasted that his 'Punjab Model 2022' will create not only more jobs but will also generate revenue and plug revenue pilferages.
During his interaction, Sidhu also slammed Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal.
"Why do Badals have monopoly in buses and cable business? In the past five years, the state has a loss of Rs 5,000 crore owing to its monopoly. We will break the monopoly. It can be recovered too. The end objective is to empower local operators and give cheap cable to people," news agency IANS quoted him as saying.
The 117-member Punjab Assembly will go to the polls on February 14, and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
Meanwhile, the ABP-CVOTER Battle for the States survey has recently showed that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Congress are projected to poll 40 per cent and 36 per cent votes in Punjab, respectively in the upcoming polls.