Punjab elections: Growing clamour in Congress to declare Channi as CM face, sources say

As the Congress party has not yet declared the Chief Ministerial face for the upcoming Punjab elections, sources informed that grand old party leaders want current CM Charanjit Singh Channi to be the CM face. There is also a growing clamour within the party over the necessity of having a CM face. Though the Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership", many leaders in its state unit are seeking that the air surrounding the issue be cleared at the earliest.

Earlier, in 2012 and 2017, the party had declared its CM candidate ahead of the elections, senior leader and minister Brahm Mohindra said, adding that Channi has proved himself in the role in just three months.

"There should not be any confusion in the party about announcing the CM candidate when there is already one who has proved himself beyond everybody's expectations," he said.

Punjab elections: Tough battle between political parties

The main reason behind party members' demand comes at the backdrop of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is emerging as a strong contender for the polls, declaring its MP and state unit chief Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate.      

The need to declare a chief ministerial candidate becomes more important for the Congress as the AAP has named Bhagwant Mann as its candidate, while the SAD are projecting Sukhbir Badal for the post, Mohindra said.

Congress backs Charanjit Singh Channi for CM face

Mohindra's cabinet colleague Rana Gurjeet Singh has come out backing Channi while raising a question mark about his continuation as CM after the party comes back to power.

"Channi has done an exceedingly outstanding job in just three months," Rana Gurjeet Singh said.

Cabinet minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Shahkot MLA Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia are also backing the idea of having Channi as chief ministers if the party succeed in the polls.

Congress to fight poll under collective leadership

Despite party leaders backing Channi, Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala, who was in Chandigarh this week, while replying to a question on the issue and asserted, "Sidhu ji Punjab Congress ke sardar hain (Navjot Singh Sidhu is Punjab Congress chief), Channi ji government ke sardar hain (Channi is chief minister), and we will contest elections under collective leadership."

A survey suggests CM Channi has maximum support

A survey Who should be the CM face of the Congress in Punjab?' on Twitter by Nikhil Alva, an aide of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, shows that Channi is the choice with a maximum of 68.7 per cent of the total 1,283 voters in the survey responding in his favour.

Meanwhile, the party's state unit has launched a campaign on social media stating that the entire state is with Charanjit Singh Channi and blaming the BJP-led Centre for trying to defame Punjab's first chief minister from the scheduled caste community.

(With PTI inputs)

Image: CharanjitSinghChanni/Facebook_PTI