Asian Tribune February 11, 2022

English Page
Issue 300 (4) Asian Tribune February 11, 2022
Now, race in Punjab
Congress for its Jat face
Chandigarh (ATB)
With Charanjit Singh
Channi being picked
as the chief ministerial
face of the Congress,
race is now on within
the party over who the
Jat face would be after
the Assembly elections.
Irrespective of
whether the party repeats
the government
or not, PCC chief
Navjot Singh Sidhu is
facing trouble from Jat
leaders in Majha, who
do not want him to win,
suggest ground reports.
Sidhu, who
was a contender for the
CM face, is facing SAD
leader Bikram Majithia
on home seat Amritsar
East. Even as the Opposition
parties have
sharpened their attack
on the PCC chief, no
senior Congress leader
is seen rallying behind
him.
After the exit
of former CM Capt
Amarinder Singh,
churning has begun
within the party on filling
the vacuum in the
Jat leadership. After
Channi’s elevation
as the
CM, Sukjinder
Randhawa (Jat
face) and OP
Soni (Hindu face)
were elevated as
his deputies.
Sidhu, also a
Jat face, is already the
PCC chief. Due to his
clean image, Sidhu is
a major hurdle for other
Jat leaders who want to
take the place of Capt
Amarinder.
Party insiders
say after the announcement
on CM face, party
strategists are anxiously
waiting for the
Dalit card to translate
into votes. The party is
ascertaining as to how
workers and voters from
other castes are reacting
to the announcement.
A senior party
leader said the SAD,
AAP and BJP were trying
to provoke the upper
castes against the
Congress.
The narrative in the 72
hours before the polling
would set the agenda
for voters, it is being
pointed out.
With Sauda
chief Gurmeet Ram
Rahim out on a 21-day
furlough, party leaders
feel he may sway dera
votes, mostly from the
under-privileged sections
of the society in
the Malwa region.
Capt Amarinder Singh: AICC's
move on caste lines a mistake
Patiala (A S
Lamba) - Punjab Lok
Congress chief Capt
Amarinder Singh today
said the Congress had
made a mistake by announcing
its chief ministerial
face on the basis
of caste. “A CM should
be decided on the
grounds of capability,
not on the metric of
caste, be it Scheduled
Caste, Jat Sikh or Hindu,
which they have done,”
he said, while interacting
with mediapersons after
a public meeting in the
Patiala Rural segment.
Pointing out
that Punjab had never
before been divided on
the caste or religious
lines, Capt Amarinder
said: “CM Charanjit
Channi does not have a
CM’s calibre,” adding his
tall claims could not fool
people of the state. The
former CM warned of an
“explosion” soon from
PCC chief Navjot Singh
Sidhu, who had been
discarded by his own
party in favour of Channi,
saying he was “too ambitious
to stay quiet for
very long”.
Claiming that
leaders like Channi and
Deputy CM Sukhjinder
Randhawa had
backstabbed him and
misled the high command
after he had supported
them in their political
careers, the PLC
chief said such leaders
could not be trusted.
“They will compromise
the interests of Punjab to
further their agenda,” he
warned. He recalled how
he had inducted Channi
into the Congress and
helped him become an
MLA and ensured
Randhawa a seat in the
last elections. To a
query, the former CM
said there was no comparison
between PM
Narendra Modi and Congress
leader Rahul
Gandhi in terms of their
political experience. “I
IMPLANTS & BRACES
have known Modi for
long and used to meet
him frequently in Delhi
when we were both
CMs,” he said, adding
the Modi government had
helped him whenever
Punjab was in dire
straits.
“We have to
work with them to ensure
a safe future for
Punjab,” he stressed.
“The future of Punjab
depends on these polls,”
he said, underlining the
need for close Centrestate
coordination to
secure the state’s interests.
To a question on
whether his wife, MP
Preneet Kaur, would
campaign for him, Capt
Amarinder said it was for
her to decide.
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