Channi May Be Congress' CM Face in Punjab Polls, Video With Sonu Sood Suggests

In the video, Sonu Sood says that the CM candidate should be someone who doesn't have to campaign hard.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi. Image used for representational purposes. 

(Photo: Charanjit Singh Channi Facebook Page)

As Punjab Assembly elections approach, a video shared by the Congress on Monday, 17 January, cryptically suggests that Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi may be the party's chief ministerial candidate for the polls.

The 36-second-long montage shows actor Sonu Sood delivering a message that the man for the chief minister's post is someone who doesn't have to campaign hard for his job.

"The real chief minister, the real king is the one who is forcibly brought to the chair, and who does not have to struggle for it and does not have to state that I am the CM candidate, I deserve it. He should be a backbencher, who is brought from behind and told that you deserve it, you should become the CM. Such a chief minister can bring change in the country," Sood says in the video.

The actor's speech is followed by visuals of CM Channi taking part in various activities and events, suggesting that he is the kind of candidate that Sood had outlined.

While the party has refrained from mentioning a chief ministerial candidate and has maintained that it will contest the polls under a "joint leadership," speculations are rife that Channi will be the party's choice over Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Channi, a three-time MLA from Chamkaur Sahib constituency and a member of the Scheduled Caste community, which comprises 32 percent of the state's population, had taken over the post only months ago after Captain Amarinder Singh's resignation in September.

Voting in Punjab will be held on 20 February, the Election Commission said on Monday, revising the date for polling from the previously-stipulated 14 February, after requests from various political parties.