Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar on Monday hit out at party’s state in-charge Harish Rawat over the latter’s statement that the upcoming assembly polls in the state will be fought under Congress state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Taking to Twitter, Jakhar termed the statement as “baffling” and said that the remarks are likely to undermine the authority of the chief minister. “Mr Rawats’s statement that “elections will be fought under Sidhu”, is baffling. It’s likely to undermine CM’s authority but also negate the very ‘raison d’être’ of his selection for this position,” he wrote.
On the swearing-in day of Sh @Charnjit_channi as Chief Minister, Mr Rawats’s statement that “elections will be fought under Sidhu”, is baffling. It’s likely to undermine CM’s authority but also negate the very ‘raison d’être’ of his selection for this position.
— Sunil Jakhar (@sunilkjakhar) September 20, 2021
On Sunday, Rawat said that the upcoming state assembly elections will be fought under Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu who is “very popular”, given the state’s present political circumstances.
“It (Congress face for upcoming state assembly polls) will be decided by the Congress president, but given the circumstances, elections will be fought with the Chief Minister’s cabinet under Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, whose chief is Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is very popular,” Rawat said on Sunday.
Former state Congress chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar, who was in the reckoning for chief minister’s post, Sunday refused to be appointed as a deputy CM.
According to The Indian Express, Jakhar, who was earlier believed to be chosen by the party high-command for the CM post, rejected the offer of deputy chief minister.
Along with Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit Sikh CM of the state, two deputy chief ministers – Sukhjinder Randhawa, who was the frontrunner for the post just a few hours before Channi’s appointment, and Brahm Mohindra – will also take oath today.
Jakhar, who in July had made way for Navjot Singh Sidhu as PCC chief, would have been the CM designate had Rajya Sabha member Ambika Soni and Randhawa not opposed his name. Soni went on record to say that following the tradition of the Congress party, the CM of reorganised Punjab should be a Sikh.
