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People at the top want a weak CM who dances to their tune, says Sidhu
In comments that came days ahead of an announcement about the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state polls, Sidhu did not clarify whether he was referring to the central leadership of the Congress.
The Congress’s Punjab unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has said “people at the top” want a weak chief minister in the state who will run the government according to their wishes.
In comments that came days ahead of an announcement about the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming state polls, Sidhu did not clarify whether he was referring to the central leadership of the Congress. “People at the top want a weak chief minister who can dance to their tunes,” Sidhu said at a poll meeting in Amritsar on Thursday. “If a new Punjab has to be made, it is in the hands of the CM... You have to choose the CM this time,” he said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on January 27 said the party’s CM face for Punjab will be announced in a week’s time. The decision of the party high command is expected to be announced on February 6, said party functionaries familiar with the matter.
Sidhu, who was appointed the Congress’s state unit in charge after a long-drawn tussle with former chief minister Amarinder Singh last year, has been making a case for him to be picked for the top post.
Chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, who was appointed to the post after Amarinder resigned, has made a similar pitch as the February 20 polls near.
“How can change be ensured? What do you expect from a man who runs distilleries and the man who swallowed the sand of Punjab?” Sidhu said at Thursday’s event, in a veiled reference to Channi, whose family has been facing allegations of sand mining.
“Only the man who has good character and is honest and who won the trust of the people during the last 20-25 can do for the betterment of the state in this direction,” he said.
Channi’s nephew, Bhupendra Singh Honey, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in an illegal sand-mining case on Friday.
“The people want change. The change is of ideology, agenda and road map. The most important thing is, who will bring this change? Has anyone else given any agenda? Everyone indulges in blame games. For the last year, I have been giving this agenda…,” he said at another event in Amritsar on Friday.
The party, however, sought to downplay Sidhu’s comments.
Congress’s Punjab in-charge, Harish Chaudhary, said the state unit chief was not talking about the Congress.
