Sulking Sidhu Won’t Accept Channi as Punjab CM Candidate

The Congress decision is not expected to go down well with Sidhu, who may create trouble for Channi as well as Congress in Punjab. 

By Rakesh Raman

After a prolonged discussion of weeks, the Congress party finally announced the name of Punjab chief minister (CM) Charanjit Singh Channi as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab election scheduled to take place on February 20.

The announcement came as a major setback to Navjot Singh Sidhu, the president of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), who has been aspiring to become the CM face and eventually the CM of Punjab.

Top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said in a rally at Ludhiana in Punjab that Channi has been selected after taking formal feedback from the people of Punjab and local Congress workers. 

He added that Channi belongs to a poor family and understands the needs of the poor to provide them with good leadership as the CM of Punjab. Comparing Channi with prime minister (PM) Narendra Modi, Rahul Gandhi said that Modi acts like a king but Channi will work to help the needy people of Punjab.

However, the Congress decision is not expected to go down well with Sidhu, who may create trouble for Channi as well as Congress in Punjab. If Sidhu’s demands are not met by the party, he threatens his own party with resignation or revolt.

Earlier, in September last year, Sidhu had resigned abruptly when Congress had named Channi as the CM of Punjab. Sidhu who is a loose talker had also staged a revolt against his colleague and the then-Punjab CM Amarinder Singh who was forced to resign in September. Subsequently, Congress had selected Channi as the new CM of Punjab.

Sidhu must have realized that now Channi will be the CM if Congress wins the 2022 Assembly election in Punjab. In other words, if Sidhu stays in Congress, he cannot become the CM of Punjab for many more years or decades.

While Sidhu has been craving to grab the CM position by hook or by crook, his hopes were shattered with the selection of Channi. Now, restless Sidhu is expected to destabilize Congress in Punjab.

Meanwhile, in an ongoing RMN Poll, most respondents say that no traditional party should win the Punjab election. Today, Punjab is facing extreme political turmoil, unemployment, illiteracy, agricultural downturn, bureaucratic and political corruption, drug addiction, mafia culture, youth exodus, religious fundamentalism, and other evils that have made life miserable for the people of Punjab.

During the past few decades, the ruling political parties – including Congress – have made Punjab a virtual hell and now it will be extremely difficult to save Punjab from the traditional political outfits which are full of corrupt and crooked politicians.

By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society.