Punjab needs CM whose politics is not entertainment, freebies: Manish Tewari's dig at Channi
The Congress party is yet to name a chief ministerial candidate for its assembly polls, which is scheduled on February 14.
Congress leader Manish Tewari on Wednesday took a jibe at Punjab chief minister and his fellow party colleague Charanjit Singh Channi, saying that Punjab needs a chief minister who has solutions to the state's “challenges” and can take “tough decisions.”
Taking to Twitter, the member of G-23, wrote that the poll-bound state needs “serious people” as its head.
“Punjab NEEDS serious people whose politics is NOT Social Engineering, Entertainment, Freebies & NOT regime favourites rejected by people in successive elections,” he wrote on the micro-blogging site.
The Congress is yet to name a chief ministerial candidate for its assembly elections, which will be held on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.
Channi, who is one of the prominent faces in the northern state's Congress unit besides party's Punjab chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, became the first Dalit chief minister of the state in September last year after Captain Amarinder Singh resigned.
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Tewari's dig comes after Sidhu on Tuesday said that the people of Punjab will decide who will be next chief minister of the state. “Who told you that the (Congress) high command will make the CM?” the Punjab Congress chief asked mediapersons.
Sidhu further stated that there should not be any “false implication” regarding the Congress high command choosing the chief minister of Punjab.
“People of Punjab will pick the MLAs and they will decide on the next chief minister as well,” he pointed out, according to a video shared by news agency ANI.
The Congress party is aiming to repeat the 2017 election results this year too. It had secured 77 (of 117) seats in the last assembly polls, under the leadership of Amarinder Singh, thus dethroning the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party government after a decade. Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerged as the primary opposition after it bagged 20 seats.
The SAD could only manage to win 15 seats while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) grabbed three.
This year's elections come with a twist as the Captain is no longer with the Congress party. He has now formed an independent party called ‘Punjab Lok Congress’ and will contest from all 117 seats in alliance with the saffron party.
