Former Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar alleged that the party did not make him chief minister of the state despite having the support of 42 MLAs because he is a Hindu. Jakhar claimed that 42 MLAs supported him for the CM’s post after the exit of Captain Amarinder Singh. The senior Congress leader said that he is hurt by the party’s decision.
Jakhar made these remarks while addressing a gathering in Abohar yesterday and in an interview with India Today. He said that advisors (Ambika Soni and other leaders) sitting in Delhi said that a Sikh face would be suitable for the post, thus eliminating him from the CM race.
“Not forty but forty-two MLAs voted in my support, 16 for Sukhjinder Randhawa, 12 votes for Maharani Preneet Kaur (Amarinder Singh’s wife and Patiala MP), six votes for Navjot Singh Sidhu and two votes for (Charanjit Singh) Channi. I have no remorse. Rahul Gandhi called me and offered me the post of deputy chief minister but I declined,” Jakhar can be heard saying in a video which has now gone viral.
Jakhar said that forty-two MLAs voted for him even though he was nothing at that time. “I was not even PPCC president,” Jakhar said, pointing out that the party had sought to know from the MLAs whom they wanted to see as the chief minister after the exit of Amarinder Singh.
“Seventy-nine MLAs were called up to know whom they wanted as the CM. Sunil was not even an MLA,” he added.
Jakhar was among the front runners for the chief ministerial post but the Congress party went ahead with Charanjit Singh Channi, who became the first chief minister of Punjab from the Scheduled Caste community.
Jakhar’s nephew Sandeep Jakhar is contesting the Punjab assembly polls as a Congress candidate from the Abohar seat.
Over the past several weeks, Channi and state Congress chief Sidhu have, directly or indirectly, made a case for themselves to be declared as the party’s chief ministerial candidate. However, no official decision has been taken yet.