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Why Punjab’s new CM Charanjit Channi cannot be the face of Congress’s 2022 election campaign? India News – Times of India

September 19, 2021
Bharat Times English News

Amritsar: Congress designated on sunday Charanjit Singh Channi – A Dalit leader – as the Chief Minister of Punjab. However, only time will tell whether this decision will help the party in the upcoming assembly elections in the state.
Speaking to TOI on Sunday, political analyst Dr Harpreet Singh Hundal said that the Congress will now have to strike a caste balance in the state.

“To be Chief Minister from Scheduled Caste (SC) is a commendable decision, but at the same time the party has to think politically. Most of the farmers are Jat Sikhs. While Jats are good and humble in nature, they would like to be represented by a Jat leader. Have to go,” he said.

Punjab has a sizeable number of Dalits, representing about 32% of the total population, while Jat Sikhs constitute around 21-25%.
Notably, Channi would be the first Dalit-Sikh chief minister of Punjab.
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Channi’s appointment had put an end to speculation that the Congress might choose Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa for the top post in the state.
Hundal said Congress satrap Randhawa is politically more mature than Channi and will give a tough fight to the SAD (B)-BSP alliance as well as AAP in the coming assembly elections.
If Congress had chosen Randhawa, it would have been second. Chief Minister of Punjab hailing from the Majha region after Partap Singh Kairon.
Kairon was the Chief Minister of Punjab from 1956 to 1964.

Meanwhile, Harjinder Singh Dilgir, former director of the Sikh History Research Board, questioned the Congress’s decision to elect a Dalit chief minister for a few months.
“The action (decision to appoint Channi as chief minister) has been taken to influence Dalit votes in view of SAD (B)’s political alliance with BSP,” Dilgir said.
He said there was no guarantee that Channi would be projected as the chief ministerial face of the Congress during the campaign for the 2022 state elections.
He said the move to appoint Channi may also help the Akalis, who may target the Congress for ignoring the Jats.
Talking about Amarinder Singh’s political future, Dilgir said that the former chief minister is not one to sit quietly. However, if he does not do anything now, his political career will be over, he said.

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