Before the assembly elections in Punjab, there was a tussle within the Congress. Suddenly a decision was taken to change the leadership in the state and the Dalit face of the party, Charanjit Singh Channi suddenly came into the political circles. The throne of Captain Amarinder Singh was handed over to him and the party got new hope in terms of Dalit vote. However, the situation changed completely after the declaration of the results of the assembly elections. Channi, who dominated the media, forums and meetings, is completely missing from the political picture.
In the results released on March 10, Congress could get only 18 seats out of 117. At the same time, in 2017, the number two party won a landslide victory by winning 92 seats in the state in 2022. Here, Channi, who was the then CM, lost both the seats from Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. Chamkaur Sahib has been considered his stronghold. However, Channi was nowhere to be seen after the resignation of Governor Banwarilal Purohit. However, he had come to congratulate the new CM Bhagwant Mann.
His Twitter handle is also quiet after the election results. He has made only two tweets since then, congratulating him on Holi and Hola Mohalla. Former state president of the party Navjot Singh Sidhu is constantly holding meetings with the MLAs, but Channi is not present here either. Here, Sidhu also lost from Amritsar East seat.
Sunil Jakhar, who had taken charge of the Punjab Congress, had once again given rise to the tussle that had led to the emergence of Channi in the party. Senior party leader Ambika Soni had said that CM can only be Sikh. Jakhar’s presence is believed to have weakened since then. The former state president had accused Soni of betraying the high command and called Channi a ‘liability’.
Speaking to The Indian Express after the election results, Jakhar had said, “Thank God she (Channi) was not declared a national asset in the CWC on behalf of the PBI woman who first offered her to be made the CM.” Jakhar says that if the Captain was not removed from the post of CM, the party’s performance could have been better.
After the election defeat, many more leaders were also seen talking about the Enforcement Directorate raid against Channi’s nephew. The ED had allegedly recovered Rs 10 crore in the investigation. According to a report in the Indian Express, many believe that this raid has damaged the Congress’s efforts to portray Channi as the ‘real common man’.