Congress candidates were getting calls for their choice of CM face even after Rahul landed in Punjab

The Congress had taken a feedback from the people of the state through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system and sources said most of the people had voted for Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. The party had taken feedback from sitting MLAs, ministers, MPs and workers as to who should be the candidate. “I was surprised that when everybody was sure shot that Rahul would announce Channi as the CM candidate, Venugopal was making calls at the eleventh hour also. It is learnt that most of the MLAs and candidates voted for Channi.

After the last minute phone calls, Rahul reached the rally late by an hour and a half and had lunch and met rebel candidates, who had withdrawn their nomination, with PPCC chief Navjot Sidhu, former PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar and Channi present at a hotel in Ludhiana. Sources said, after landing in Halwara and reaching Ludhiana in a vehicle driven by Jakhar and flanked by Channi and Sidhu, Rahul did not talk about who would be the CM candidate.

“Nobody heard it from Rahul Gandhi. There have been whispers in the Congress party about Channi for past couple of days, but Rahul did not say it himself. Everybody heard it from him while he was making the announcement from the dais of the virtual rally,” said a leader.

He added, “Sidhu sought time for a separate meeting with Rahul. Both the leaders met for little over five minutes. Then KC Venugopal went inside and asked them to hurry up as the announcement was getting delayed. That is all. KCV was also inside with the duo briefly. We do not know whether Sidhu was told about the CM candidate or not. Although he came out of the meeting smiling.”

Sidhu’s body language from the stage was indicative that he knew what was coming. He egged in Channi for an applause, following which Channi got up and hugged Sidhu. “These were enough hints for the spectators. At one point of time, Sidhu even said that if he continue to be the PPCC chief after the Congress was elected, he would not allow any MLAs to be the chairpersons of boards and corporations. These posts would go to workers. This was a clear indication that Sidhu had known that he would not be the CM candidate.”

The PPCC chief reiterated from the stage that he would abide by Rahul Gandhi’s decision. Earlier, during the day, he had tweeted, “Nothing great was ever achieved without an act of decision …. Warm welcome to our leading light Rahul Ji , who comes to give clarity to Punjab …. All will abide by his decision !!!” “Sidhu took the announcement sportingly, congratulating the CM by hugging him contrary to the belief that he would leave the venue as soon as Channi would be declared. This indicates that Sidhu had an idea. If he did not have an idea and he would take time to stomach the development, then we do not know what is in store,” a leader said.

Sidhu not on Cong’s star campaigner list

The Congress gave another jolt to Sidhu by not including him in star campaigners for UP, even as he had led a protest march to Lakhimpur Kheri and sat on a hunger strike there. Channi appears on the list.