'People at the top want weak CM': Sidhu sends mixed signals

Congress supporters in Punjab are waiting anxiously for Sunday when Rahul Gandhi is expected to announce the party's candidate for chief minister for the coming polls.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had indicated in his home constituency of Chamkaur Sahib that a CM candidate could be declared on Sunday.

Last week, Rahul had said both Channi and Punjab Congress unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu had assured him that whosoever is chosen as the party's chief ministerial face, they will stand by the decision.

However, on Thursday, a video of Sidhu surfaced in which he appeared to be sending a message to the Congress high command.

Sidhu was quoted by ANI as saying, “If a New Punjab has to be made, it is in the hands of the CM... You have to choose the CM this time. People at the top want a weak CM who can dance to their tunes. Do you want such a CM?”

In the video, Sidhu referred to how Lee Kuan Yew transformed Singapore from a fishing market to a major world economy by cracking down on corruption. Sidhu declared he would be similarly unsparing on corruption.

Sidhu had on Thursday played down the comments of former Punjab state Congress unit chief Sunil Jakhar that the majority of MLAs had preferred him to be chief minister after Amarinder Singh resigned last year.

Sidhu was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying, “Jakhar has the right to say anything. A person can become CM only if he is elected as an MLA. How can anyone be the CM without being an MLA? The decision is in the hands of the voters, not in mine or that of Jakhar. We are to give an agenda, roadmap or policies. We should first tell people what we are to do.”

Interestingly, Sidhu's wife ,Navjot Kaur Sidhu, said on Thursday that irrespective of who becomes the chief minister, her husband is a hero and will remain so.

She was asked about her husband's political future if he was not made CM candidate. “Navjot Singh Sidhu is a hero and he will remain a hero... Whosoever the chief minister may be, it does not matter,” Navjot Kaur Sidhu told reporters in Amritsar.