HomePolitics NewsPunjab Assembly Elections 2022: Congress stays with Channi as CM; will it stay in power?

Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Congress stays with Channi as CM; will it stay in power?

For the first time in decades, the electorate would have another chance to look for an alternative to traditional bi-polar options of Congress and the Akalis. In 2017, the AAP presented itself as an alternative but the other two closed ranks to restrict its chances.

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By KV Prasad  February 7, 2022, 3:34:55 PM IST (Updated)

Punjab Assembly Elections 2022: Congress stays with Channi as CM; will it stay in power?
One can surmise as a foregone conclusion the decision of Rahul Gandhi to declare incumbent Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief ministerial candidate of Congress party as it gets down to defend its lone government among the five states going to polls.


Having effected a change in guard by jettisoning Captain Amarinder Singh and putting Channi, in the saddle, the party central leadership's move to install a Dalit in the position was hailed as a masterstroke that took away wind from the sails of principal opponents in the state.

Now it was anybody's guess that in Punjab where Scheduled Castes are 32 percent of the population, the Congress would have committed political hara-kiri if it chose to announce a candidate other than Channi as the party's future chief minister. The path certainly was not as easy for the State Congress Chief Navjot Singh Sidhu with vaulting ambition stood in the way.

For the time being, Rahul Gandhi appears to have mollified Sidhu who at the virtual public rally in Ludhiana on Sunday who accepted the decision and pledged to work as a loyal party worker towards his core interest in the future of Punjab, a state with which he confessed to be in 'Ishq'.

One will have to wait for the scenario after March 10, when the results for the 117-member Punjab Assembly will be declared. Would there be a tussle for leadership in case Congress manages to cross the 59-seat mark to secure a simple majority? Or would the wounds of factionalism open up just as they did in the Congress governments of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan during the past few years? One would have waited for the day to arrive.

The task before the Congress at present is to ensure the party remains united with the sole objective of securing victory and negate the prediction of Navjot Sindhu that the grand old party is adept at torpedoing prospects from within.

As the lineup stands today, the Congress forces will be marshaled by Channi-Sidhu duo with Bhagwant Singh Mann-Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Aadmi Party expected to be the principal challengers and seasoned Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) with coalition partner Bahujan Samaj Party is raring to wrest power after a 10-year hiatus.

Then there is a grand coalition of Bharatiya Janata Party-Punjab Lok Congress of Amarinder Singh and Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) of former Union Minister Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and with farmers fronts Sanyukt Samaj Morcha and Sanykut Sangarsh Party in the fray together with Balbir Singh Rajewal as the CM's face.

There is a deep division within the farmers' unions over the decision of fellow travellers to enter the electoral fray after they successfully kept politicians at arms-length during the year-long protest on three farm laws.

The 2022 Assembly elections offer to the 2.12 crore registered voters of Punjab a multiple-choice as five parties/alliances are among the 1,300-odd candidates whose names will appear on the electronic voting machines in respective constituencies.

For the first time in decades, the electorate would have another chance to look for an alternative to traditional bi-polar options of Congress and the Akalis. In 2017, the AAP presented itself as an alternative but the other two closed ranks to restrict its chances.

Ironically, the Congress is seeking votes both on work done by its government and promises to complete those its government failed to deliver on during the four-year tenure of Captain Amarinder Singh.

The emotive issue of sacrilege cases and casualties due to police action got some movement under Channi as did his government moved with alacrity to crack down on mafia controlling transport or illegal sand-mining. Of course, the arrest of a close relative of the Chief Minister Channi by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged sand-mining case offers the opposition an easy stick to attack.

Almost all the three major contenders—Congress, the AAP and Akali-BSP – have offered electoral sops or freebies which along with social engineering being attempted by these parties have the ability to alter the dynamics.

As mentioned Punjab Scheduled Caste population is the highest in the country. Yet, the group cannot be characterised as one large swathe of voters since there are several sub-castes and sects known as Ramdassis, Ravidassis, Balmikis, Kabirpanthis, while CM Channi belongs to the Ravidassis community. The communities are spread differently across the three regions – Malwa, Majha, and Doaba, with many in the last having progressed well on the economic scale both on account of education and immigration to foreign lands.

In effect, the battle for the chief minister's seat is with Channi on one side and two Jat Sikhs – Badal and Mann. with the latter pitching to lead a state having little administrative experience. When the voters enter the booth on February 20 to speak up, they would have to base their decision on the triad of voting for a party and its vision; its promises and delivery record; and, finally, which leader should be trusted to govern the state for the next five years.

— KV Prasad is a senior journalist and has earlier worked with The Hindu and The Tribune. The views expressed are personal.

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