Even as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has taken the lead in declaring the name of its Chief Ministerial candidate for the February 20 Punjab assembly elections, it is now to be seen whether the Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) would follow the suit. It would be, however, more challenging for the ruling Congress to announce its CM face at this juncture given the seeming tug of war between Charanjit Singh Channi and state party president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
As Sidhu continues to take pot-shots at his own government, he has not shied away from even declaring an agenda of what he calls the ‘Punjab Model’. While chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi has released a video on his official Facebook page focusing on the five years of development in Punjab and restoring the lost glory of the state. While Channi has been talking about the work done by him in the last 100 days, he has also talks about the future of the state with him as the CM in the video. Adding to the speculation over the party’s CM face, the Congress released a video on its official Twitter handle late Monday night, with a focus on Channi, and this was raised by none other than actor Sonu Sood whose sister was recently inducted into the party and will contest from Moga.
While the battle rages on in the Congress, senior leaders maintain that it was rarely a tradition in the party to declare the CM face. “The year 2017 was the only exception when the name of Captain Amarinder Singh was declared, otherwise, it was only after the elections that the Congress Legislative Party in consultation with the party’s high command that the CM is elected,” said a senior Congress leader who is also a part of the screening committee for Punjab.
Meanwhile, SAD will be contesting under the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal and, the SAD-BSP (Bahujan Samaj Party) will be in alliance for the upcoming polls. “Parkash Singh Badal has already showered his blessings on Sukhbir and has said that the party should now contest under his leadership,” said senior SAD leader Daljeet Singh Cheema. But the party is yet to declare the CM face officially.
The other front in a multi-cornered contest led by BJP, Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic) and Captain Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress have announced an alliance but are yet to declare the seat-sharing formula with party leaders maintaining it will happen soon.
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