Congress claims that it has deployed more than 250 social media warriors to assess from party workers and the general population in Punjab, as to whether it should project present chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi or the state party president Navjot Singh Sidhu as its chief ministerial face for the assembly elections scheduled for February 20.
The decision, which we know will not be based entirely on the surveys – though internal surveys are a useful tool to mollify an angry loser – shall be a significant pointer to the kind of politics that the Congress wishes to adopt going ahead.
At a time when the ageing party is desperately in need of dynamic new leaders and a fresh approach to revive itself, what it does in Punjab shall be keenly watched. Sonia Gandhi did manage to pull a rabbit from her hat when she appointed Channi, a surprise Dalit face, as chief minister in September after removing Captain Amarinder Singh. But Sidhu, that man who led the charge against Amarinder was side-stepped as the state party president.
Not being one to give up, even when faced with a self assured Channi who assumed the chief minister’s mantle with a refreshingly humble charm, Sidhu has made sure that he is still in the reckoning.
Also read: Punjab Elections: The Politics Behind Chief Ministerial Candidates or Lack Thereof
It does not matter that he is not popular with most people in the state’s Congress, as all the top leaders are gunning for him. But few can deny that in the last few months he has emerged a one-man charge against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) which had been gaining support on its plank of ‘change’. Sidhu cannily positioned himself to represent just that on the Congress symbol.
Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi and PPCC President Navjot Singh Sidhu. Photo: PTI/File
By taking a 13-point ‘Punjab Model of Governance’ to the people, Sidhu has virtually hijacked the party’s proposed election manifesto. He talks passionately of how he intends to bring about drastic changes in the existing methods of governance. The old guard, even within his own party, with interests in sand mining and liquor licenses are his targets.
In September, just days after he was made the PCC president, he suddenly resigned when the new cabinet under Channi was constituted. His aides let it be known that his resignation was mainly to register his opposition to the re-instatement of the tainted Rana Gurjit Singh in the cabinet. Rana, who was the power and irrigation minister in the Amarinder government, had resigned from the cabinet in 2018 after he faced allegations of getting sand mining contracts worth crores in the name of his staff members. He is today the minister for technical education in the Channi government.
When Sidhu takes pot-shots at his own party members, including chief minister Channi, he, in his not-so-subtle manner, is pointing out that Channi represents the old way of doing populist politics. And that if anyone signifies real change, it is he, Sidhu. His media interactions are replete with examples of how ministers and legislators had cornered lucrative liquor, sand and transport licenses and how previous chief minister Amarinder Singh stonewalled his attempts to nail them.
Also read | Punjab: In Channi’s Constituency, Rivals Target Him Over Illegal Mining, Poor Education
Now that Channi himself is under a cloud ever since the Enforcement Directorate raided his nephew Bhupinder Singh and recovered Rs 10 crores of unaccounted cash, gold and other valuables besides documents pertaining to extensive properties, Sidhu is loudly proclaiming himself as an upright politician, a strong advocate of clean politics, who has the will to smash sand mining, cable and liquor mafia in Punjab and generate money for the state from these resources.
Visuals of cash allegedly recovered from Bhupinder Singh’s house, tweeted by BJP members. Photo: Twitter/@gssjodhpur
As visuals of stacks of money recovered from Channi’s nephew began to be circulated on social media, Sidhu lost no time to quietly position himself as the ‘Mr Clean’ of the Congress. When quizzed about his silence on the raids against the chief minister’s nephew, Sidhu toed the party line and talked about the timing of the raids and how they are politically motivated. But in the next breath he lashed out at the involvement of ministers in sand mining. “How can those who own L1 and L2 liquor licences or those who have contracts for sand khuds govern the state?” he asked. And then, “No one can point a finger at Sidhu and say he is corrupt and has illegal businesses.”
His aides claim that he has been let loose on the Punjab Congress to clean up things from within. That can only mean that he has the approval of the Congress high command, Rahul Gandhi in particular, to throw the barbs that he does.
Yet, chief minister Channi appears way ahead in the ratings game. An informal Twitter poll by Nikhil Alva, an aide of Rahul Gandhi showed that 68.7% of the voters wanted Channi to be the CM face of the Congress. Left to the state Congress, they will also prefer the genial Channi, and several Congress leaders including Rana Gurjit Singh, cabinet ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Brahm Mohindra have openly pulled their weight behind Channi.
Also read: Channi Has Unveiled the Possibility of SC-Dominated Politics in Punjab. And Some Aren’t Happy.
The substantial Dalit vote – around 33% of the population – that Channi at the helm promises to bring to the Congress kitty is a major consideration. As the first Dalit chief minister, Channi has the potential to consolidate much of Punjab’s fractured Dalit voters who are elated to have one of their own up there. Till now, Dalit votes in Punjab were usually divided between the Congress, the AAP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).
The party is conscious of the fact that it is important to counter the widespread perception among the Dalits that Channi is merely a stop gap appointee and that if the Congress wins the elections then the party could install someone else. Already the SAD which has an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party has announced that it will have a Dalit as its deputy chief minister if voted to power.
Channi’s other appeal is as the quintessential ‘aam admi’ or ‘ordinary man’, more ordinary and rooted than even Arvind Kejriwal of the AAP. He never fails to tell journalists about his father’s tent house business and how he, as a young man, used to lay tables and chairs at marriage parties. He walks into eager crowds, is soft spoken, but unlike Sidhu, does not talk of dismantling the system or breaking mafias. His down to earth manner of connecting with people is being watched and noticed by everyone in the Congress party, even though Channi is now a leader with a taint.
Election eve mudslinging has also hit Sidhu. An estranged step-sister, Suman Toor, has emerged to level damning allegations that Sidhu threw his mother out of house in 1986 after his father’s death. According to Suman, Sidhu’s mother died abandoned on a railway station in 1989. His supporters say that as his opponents could not find a single instance of financial wrongdoing in his camp, pulling out a family conflict was the only way to bring him down.
It is a tough choice, but one that will signal the kind of politics that the Congress’ central leadership envisages for itself in Punjab and elsewhere in the country. Will it fritter away the advantage of being the first party to install a Dalit as a chief minister, or go with Sidhu who promises to demolish existing structures of patronage?
Chander Suta Dogra is a journalist and author.
