The Congress cleared the confusion over its chief ministerial candidate in Punjab, with party Vice-President Rahul Gandhi anointing Amarinder Singh at a public rally in Majitha on Friday.
Rahul appealed to the latent sub-national sentiment of having a Sikh Chief Minister by projecting the 74-year-old, the scion of the Patiala royal family, who at the peak of the Narendra Modi wave in 2014 trounced Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley from the prestigious Amritsar Lok Sabha seat.
He said this election was not to “form a government but to save Punjabiyat (the essence of Punjab)” and Punjab’s honour, and only the Congress, with the help of the State’s people, could do it.
“Punjab will be run by its people. I want to tell you that Punjab’s Chief Minister will be from Punjab and Punjab’s Chief Minister is sitting here. Amarinder Singh is Punjab’s chief ministerial candidate and he will be Punjab’s Chief Minister,” he said, to cries from the crowd of
By stressing on “CM of Punjab will be from Punjab”, Rahul not only laid to rest the speculations about Amarinder’s claim being undermined by the entry of star campaigner Navjot Singh Sidhu, he also sought to tap into the strong sense of the Sikh cultural identity in Punjab.
The declaration of Amarinder’s name was simultaneously designed to hit the claims of debutant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), whose absence of a CM face has fuelled strong speculations that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal could move to Punjab if his party wins. Kejriwal originally hails from neighbouring Haryana and the lack of a strong Sikh CM candidate is largely perceived to be the biggest weakness of the AAP’s campaign in Punjab.
Gandhi stressed the point by saying that Punjab would not be run by “remote control” from Delhi, indirectly accusing Kejriwal of trying to become the Chief Minister of both Delhi and Punjab at the same time.
Amarinder was quick to seize the moment which, many in the party feel, has arrived a little too late into the campaign. Punjab goes to the polls on February 4 and Amarinder’s strong leadership is the Congress’ biggest bet in the State. “Humbled and honoured to be Punjab Congress’s CM face. Committed to serving my beloved State and bringing back the smiles on the face of Punjabis,” he tweeted.
This was Rahul’s first rally in his three-day tour of the poll-bound State and he chose to hold in the pocket-borough of Punjab Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, who is also related to the ruling Badal family.
Attacking Majithia and the Badals for “ruining” Punjab in the last decade of their rule, Gandhi said, “Farmers in Punjab are no longer happy at seeing Badals (also a term for the clouds) as they have darkened the future of Punjab.”
“With all the businesses in the hands of the Badal family, the State is in the grip of de-growth and a host of serious problems including drugs to which as many as 70 per cent of the people are either addicted or have experimented with,” he said.