It looks like the Congress party has executed a smooth leadership transition in Punjab. The exit of Captain Amarinder Singh and arrival of Charanjit Singh Channi are happening at a time when the state is five months away from assembly polls. The Congress high command treaded carefully through claims from rival sides after it got the Captain to quit the post on Saturday. The lot fell on a youthful leader from the Dalit community, who functioned as technical education and tourism minister in the Congress government and has of late been a critic of Captain Singh. The Congress party gave due weight to the sentiments of the Captain by not according the CM post to Navjot Singh Sidhu who led the fight against the CM. When Sidhu was divested of a portfolio, he intensified the fight against the CM; and when he was given the state PCC chief post, he went overboard. Sidhu let down the party as the high command’s intention behind giving him the PCC chief post was to facilitate unity in the party. Chances now are that the influential yet ageing Captain will stay with the Congress. In the process, the claims of powerful Jat Sikhs too for CM’s post went unheard at the high command level. The decision to name Channi as CM was obviously also prompted by the rise in popularity of the AAP among this section of the Sikhs, as a recent opinion poll showed.
Channi takes charge as CM on Monday. The installation of a leader from the Sikh community, yet again, is in the order of things. This is the state where Sikhs and Hindus are, population-wise, on a 60:40 ratio. The Sikh community’s contributions to fields like military service, agriculture and business are exemplary. The community, spread worldwide and having built a major base in Canada in recent decades, has its moorings and spiritual abode in Punjab. The Blue Star operations and the Delhi riots that followed the killing of Indira Gandhi in 1984 had hurt their feelings. It is important that they be treated with respect and given the prominence the community deserves. How the election scenario will pan out in Punjab will be unpredictable. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which led the SAD-BJP coalition government for two terms is no longer in the reckoning; nor is its associate the BJP there. The AAP’s plans to grab power in the state might now face serious odds. Yet, if the Congress remains a divided house, that is bound to reflect in the election results.
