With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) likely to zero in on its chief ministerial face soon for next month’s battle for Punjab, the ruling Congress is under pressure to announce that he too is its leader.
On Thursday, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal reached out to residents to voice their opinion on the party’s CM face till January 17, saying their first choice was state unit chief Bhagwant Mann. This announcement has put the Congress leadership in trouble and the high command is now under pressure to go to the polls with a CM face.
According to sources, in the last few days several leaders including some ministers have raised the issue at various levels of the party forum. “The leaders were of the view that the party should address the electorate instead of focusing on the opposition parties, provide them with a clear view and also make it clear who will lead the party in the elections. In short, declare the chief minister’s face,” said a senior party leader.
Insiders said that both Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and PCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu are contenders for the CM face. What has made the selection difficult is that this announcement could lead to further infighting.
Both Sidhu and Channi have said that the party should announce the CM face as it helps in winning the elections. “Though Sidhu is popular, ever since Channi took over the post of CM, he has cleverly played his cards and rose up on the popularity charts. It is going to be a tough call between the two,’ remarked another leader.
Sidhu’s recent remarks that people will choose their leaders and not the high command was a sign that he is also eyeing the top post, the cricketer-turned-politician.
Significantly, in the 2017 elections, the party high command had announced Captain Amarinder Singh as the CM face a few days before the elections, which many believed gave it an edge in the polls.
However, senior party leader and minister close to Sidhu Pargat Singh on Friday advocated a collective leadership for the elections.
“There should be no CM face as it harms the party. Instead, in a democracy, all candidates should be presented as a team before an election. The race for the post of CM is bad. No leader can be a super human or a semi-god. If the CM face is announced, then everyone centers power around him. Ideally all MLA candidates, each representing a vote bank of around 2 lakh people, should be made accountable,” he told the media in Jalandhar.
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