Punjab polls: Rahul set to announce Punjab Cong’s CM face on Feb 6

Rahul will be in Punjab on Sunday to address a virtual rally – his second campaign meeting in the state – where the announcement for the party’s CM face for Punjab assembly polls is expected to be made

Chandigarh : Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to announce the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the February 20 elections in Punjab on February 6 amid an open duel between incumbent chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to announce the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the February 20 elections in Punjab on February 6 amid an open duel between incumbent chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Rahul will be in Punjab on Sunday to address a virtual rally – his second campaign meeting in the state – where the announcement is expected to be made. The timing of the impending declaration was indicated by Channi on Thursday during an election meeting in Chamkaur Sahib. “The chief ministerial face is going to be announced. Rahul Gandhi ji will address (the rally) and I will be with him,” he told his supporters, urging them to assemble for viewing the rally that will be telecast live on social media and in all 117 assembly segments.

At his first virtual rally in Punjab on January 27, the former Congress president had announced that the party will go into the state polls with a CM face, and the decision will be taken after consulting party workers. The Congress leadership had initially decided to go into the polls under the “collective leadership” of Channi, Sidhu and former PPCC chief, but changed its mind as pressure mounted from the state leaders.

The choice is between Channi and Sidhu, who have been openly pitching themselves to be declared the party’s chief ministerial candidate. The party is carrying out a tele survey to get the opinion of voters as well as taking feedback from the candidates, district functionaries to pick the CM candidate. In the tele survey, the voters are given three options – Channi, Sidhu or go without a CM face, through a pre-recorded message to indicate their choice.

The exercise fuelled tensions between the two factions, as there is growing clamour in the state unit, particularly the candidates, to declare Channi, the first Dalit chief minister of the state in seven decades, as the CM candidate with several cabinet ministers, former state unit chiefs and sitting legislators throwing their weight behind him. There is a feeling in the party that he can help them corner a big chunk of the scheduled caste votes. “If he (Channi) is picked, it will help us get some votes. In case he is ignored, we can image the damage,” a senior party leader argued.

Sidhu has not commented on the impending announcement. His wife, former MLA Navjot Kaur Sidhu, however, said that Navjot Singh Sidhu is a hero and will be a hero, (it) doesn’t matter who will be chief minister. ‘The only thing that matters is that whoever will be the CM, should listen to ministers, sign their files and let them work,” she told reporters.