After Rahul’s remark on CM face, Congress puts up Channi from 2 seats

Channi’s name figured in the third list of eight candidates announced by the Congress Sunday. The party called the two-seat move a “masterstroke” aimed at denting Aam Aadmi Party’s prospects by consolidating Dalit votes in the heartland of Malwa, a stronghold of AAP.

But opinion in the party is clearly divided.

A section of the Congress said fielding Channi from Bhadaur (SC), besides his home turf of Chamkaur Sahib, was aimed at consolidating Dalit votes in Sangrur and Barnala districts. AAP’s CM face Bhagwant Mann is the Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, and had a clear lead in all the nine Assembly segments in the constituency.

This section of the party argued that the Congress, by fielding Channi from two seats, was trying to send out a message that he was its strongest state leader. But some of the senior leaders argued that Channi was on a “weak wicket” in Chamkaur Sahib and fielding him from a second seat was a “desperate move”. Expectedly, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said Channi has been fielded from a second seat because he was losing in Chamkaur Sahib.

In the 2017 Assembly elections, Amarinder Singh, then spearheading the Congress, had contested from two seats — Lambi against Akali Dal patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and Patiala. In Uttarakhand, Harish Rawat as Chief Minister had contested from two seats the same year. Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, too, had contested from two seats in the 2018 Assembly elections.

“Channi could have taken on (SAD leader) Sukhbir Singh Badal in Jalalabad, which has around 70 per cent Dalit population. He could have taken on Mann in nearby Dhuri. It would have sent a strong signal and pushed the SAD and AAP on the backfoot,” a senior Congress leader said.

But several senior leaders said announcing Channi as the CM face was a “foregone conclusion”.

“After talking so much about appointing a Dalit leader as Chief Minister…how can we now say that he is a night watchman. But we thought the decision would come closer to the elections so that there would be some time for (Navjot Singh) Sidhu to do something. But now, we hear the announcement could come in the next week itself,” another leader said.

On January 27, in a turnaround from the Congress’s repeated assertion of “collective leadership”, Rahul Gandhi had said that the party will go with a chief minister face in the polls.

Sources said the party wanted to field state Congress chief Sidhu also from two seats but the move could not materialise.

Earlier, the party wanted to field Channi from Adampur (SC) but it was felt then that he needed to be fielded from Barnala district. It was also believed that he will contest from Mehal Kalan. Finally, Bhadaur was chosen. “His candidature from Bhadaur will help us in several segments, including Dirba, Sunam, Malerkotla, Amargarh, Dhuri and Sangrur,” a state-level party leader said.

Sources said the party was also considering fielding Channi from Jalalabad to mount pressure on Sukhbir Badal. “That was seen as the party’s measure to pay back to SAD for fielding Bikram Singh Majithia against Navjot Singh Sidhu. However, in the end, they decided that Channi would be more beneficial to take on AAP rather than the SAD leader,” sources said.

The party has now fielded Mohan Singh Phallianwala, a former MP from the SC community who had earlier been with AAP and BSP, in Jalalabad.

Besides Channi, the Congress has fielded former Mayor Vishnu Sharma against former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh from Patiala (Urban) while denying a ticket to AAP MLA from Bhadaur, Pirmal Singh Khalsa, who had switched over to the Congress.

The party has also dropped three MLAs in the third list: Tarsem DC from Attari, Angad Singh from Nawanshahar and Raminder Awla from Jalalabad. Awla opted out of the contest in Jalalabad.

Angad Singh’s wife Aditi Singh, a legislator from UP’s Rae Bareli, had switched to BJP in November last year. She had also dared Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to contest against her. Congress sources said Priyanka considered Aditi as her “younger sister” but was “betrayed”. “Hence the Congress decided to drop Angad, whom it had chosen in 2017 over Satinder Singh Saini Pallichikki, who has now been nominated,” sources said.

The party has also fielded Manish Bansal, son of former Union Minister Pawan Bansal from Barnala. Former MLA Kewal Singh Dhillon could not get the ticket despite support from Sidhu. Sitting MLA from Khemkaran, Sukhpal Bhullar, has been renominated despite opposition to his candidature due to unfavorable surveys. Ishwarjot Singh Cheema, a Ludhiana-based leader, has been nominated from Ludhiana South.