Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to announce the name of his party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab polls on Sunday, when he visits Ludhiana for a virtual rally, sources said.During his last visit to Punjab on January 27, Gandhi had announced that the Congress will soon declare its chief ministerial face for the February 20 election and a decision on it will be taken after consulting the party workers.
Besides taking feedback from the leaders and workers of the party, the Congress is also seeking the opinion of the public on who should be its chief ministerial candidate through an automated call system.For the last several weeks, both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case for themselves to be declared as the party’s nominee for the top post.Channi also indicated in his constituency Chamkaur Sahib that the chief ministerial face of the Congress could be declared on Sunday.
Sidhu’s wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu said irrespective of who becomes the chief minister, her husband is a hero and will remain so.”Navjot Singh Sidhu is a hero and he will remain a hero,” she told reporters in Amritsar.”Whosoever the chief minister may be, it does not matter,” she added.She was replying to a question about her husband’s political future if he does not become the chief minister of Punjab.”Whoever is the chief minister, he should listen to his ministers, sign their files and let them do their work. Had (former chief minister) Amarinder Singh done this, nobody would have had any problem with any chief minister,” Navjot Kaur Sidhu said.
Addressing a virtual rally in Jalandhar last week, Gandhi had said both Channi and Sidhu have assured him that whosoever is chosen as the party’s chief ministerial face, they will stand by the decision.He had said this after Sidhu demanded at the rally that the Congress declare its chief ministerial face for the Punjab polls and said he does not want to be a “showpiece”.Channi had then said he was never after any post and would wholeheartedly back the party’s candidate for the top post.Channi replaced Amarinder Singh as the chief minister in September last year. He is the first Scheduled Caste (SC) chief minister of Punjab.Polling for the 117-member Punjab Assembly is scheduled to be held on February 20 and the counting of votes will be taken up on March 10.
