Congress could adjust both Channi and Sidhu later while immediately announcing chief ministerial face

 

Congress leadership weighing option of accommodating both Channi and Sidhu

 

Ground Zero

Jagtar Singh

 

As Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu today again left nothing to imagination so far as his ambition is concerned, the party leadership is learnt to be weighing the option of adjusting him too along with Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi while announcing the chief ministerial face on February 6.

The announcement is to be made by Rahul Gandhi at a virtual rally at Ludhiana to connect with the Congress rank and file at the grassroots.

Going by the indication available, based upon the survey, the party is likely to go ahead with Channi as the chief ministerial face. However, at the same time, Sidhu could be conveyed that in case of the party retaining power, Channi could be the chief minister for half the term with the other term going to him. This arrangement won't be made public at this stage.

Sidhu, in a veiled attack today morning, gave vent to his feeling that the party leadership favoured a weak person as the chief minister who could be dictated from above.

It is clear that although he publicly stated at Jalandhar in the presence of Rahul Gandhi that he would abide by every decision on this sensitive issue, it is evident that it might not be easy for him.

But then the basic issue is that of the Congress producing a miracle by retaining power or by emerging as at least the single largest party.

It is a different kind of election in Punjab this time as the electoral space is overcrowded and the people now can’t complain of lack of choice. Earlier, Punjab represented wheat-paddy rotation in electoral dynamics too as before 2017, the choice used to be limited between the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal. Now there are five formations  competing to ‘serve’ the people.

Almost every formation is making almost similar offers to the people. Navjot Singh Sidhu is a little bit different as he has been marketing his ‘Punjab Model’.

The impact of the farm struggle is evident at some level as the people are now questioning the candidates. One of the major contributions of the agrarian struggle is the accountability dimension. Even some ministers have been questioned by the electorates on the promises they had made in 2017 elections but subsequently forgotten. However, this phenomenon is yet to take off to make discernible impact on the scene.

The tragedy in Punjab is that almost the same issues are  being revisited that were at the core in 2017 but with the difference that it is the Congress now that is under attack for non-performance. The move of the Congress leadership to blunt strong anti-incumbency by replacing Capt. Amarinder Singh by Charanjit Singh Channi has failed to produce the desired results mainly because of the continuing factionalism rooted in bloated ego of some leaders.

Sidhu himself is now engaged in a pitched battle in his own constituency of Amritsar East where confronting him is Akali Dal strongman Bikram Singh Majithia who otherwise faces case under the NDPS Act and has been provided relief by the Supreme Court for the time being, apparently to enable him to fight the election.

Channi too is caught in a controversy with his nephew having been arrested today by the Enforcement Directorate from whose residence about Rs. 10 cr in cash was recovered recently.

Both of them can take refuge in the argument of political vendetta.

Of course, the present government in Delhi has been under attack for using agencies like the ED and the CBI as political tool against opposition parties close to the elections.

Punjab is the state where the stakes for the Congress in general and Rahul Gandhi in particular are high. It is for this reason too that the BJP is going all out here despite the fact that it is not in a position to get even double digit.