Chandigarh: The Congress’ final list of eight candidates on Sunday sprang a surprise by naming chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi from Bhadaur, a seat reserved for scheduled castes. This is apart from his nomination in his traditional reserved seat Chamkaur Sahib.
By fielding the Dalit chief minister from two seats, the Congress High Command seems to have put all its eggs in the Channi basket. As against this, Navjot Singh Sidhu, the other frontrunner as party’s chief ministerial face, faces a
tough fight against senior Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in Amritsar (East) seat.
Sidhu’s arch enemy has chosen to fight him here, even though he is assured of a cake walk in his home seat Majitha. Apparently, Majithia’s pathological dislike for Sidhu, who was instrumental in booking the former in an old drug case, got the better of the Akali Dal leader.
Political observers opine that the Congress’ move is also aimed at killing two birds with one stone – it enables them to breach the AAP citadel in Bahadur by fielding its incumbent Dalit CM. The Congress has thereby raised the stakes for AAP in this constituency.
The Congress’ candidate in the 2017 polls from Bhadaur, Joginder Singh, had finished a poor third after AAP’s Pirmal Singh Dhaula and Akali Dal’s Sant Balvir Singh Ghunas. The order may change this time.
