Chandigarh: As Charanjit Singh Channi addressed his first press conference after being sworn in as Punjab Chief Minister Monday, standing by his side was state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The former cricketer was there as Channi assumed office the same day, and attended a closed-door meeting between the CM, his two deputies, and former ministers Manpreet Singh Badal, Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa and Sukhbinder Sarkaria.
On Channi’s Day 2 as CM, Sidhu accompanied him and his two deputies to New Delhi for a discussion on the new cabinet. The next morning, Sidhu was seen guiding the CM, holding his hand, as they arrived at the Golden Temple in Amritsar to pay obeisance.
As the CM made his way to Durgiana Mandir, again, Sidhu was by his side, as he was when Channi visited the Dera Sachkhand Ballan in Jalandhar, a prominent religious dera of the Ravidasia community Wednesday.
Paid obeisance at Shri Harmandir Sahib, Shri Durgiana Mandir & Bhagwan Valmiki Tirath Sthal, Amritsar Sahib with our CM @CHARANJITCHANNI Bai, Dy CMs @Sukhjinder_INC Bhaji & O.P. Soni Ji along with @INCPunjab MLAs, while stopping by at the famous Giani tea stall !! pic.twitter.com/8goxVvTw9q
— Navjot Singh Sidhu (@sherryontopp) September 22, 2021
Sidhu’s constant company for Channi following his appointment as CM comes amid allegations from Captain Amarinder Singh — the latter’s predecessor, who resigned as CM last week amid a tussle with Sidhu — that the former cricketer’s shadow will loom large over the new CM’s functioning. Sidhu’s role as “super CM”, Singh said, is a departure from status quo where the CM and state party chief have distinct roles.
“Sidhu, who is head of the Congress party, has a role distinct from the chief minister, who holds real power,” Amarinder told a news channel Wednesday. “Sidhu is not directly involved in running the government in any way. But he is all over. I have remained party chief of the state as also the CM but never did I, as party chief, interfere in the working of the CM, nor did I have my party chief (behave) like this.”
While there is some speculation that Channi may be a stopgap arrangement meant to hold the post for Sidhu until after the 2022 elections, political analysts say the rapidly-evolving situation in Punjab means this is far from certain. According to some, Sidhu appears to be “basking in reflected glory”.
“The elevation of Charanjit Singh Channi as CM has broken the traditional dynastic hegemony in Punjab. However, Navjot Sidhu who was deployed by his high command to disrupt the status quo, paradoxically, is attempting to assert his own hegemony in the changed scenario,” said renowned Punjab expert Sarabjit Singh Pandher. “It appears as if he is basking in reflected glory.”
Harjeshwar Singh, a faculty member in the department of history at S.G.G.S. College Chandigarh, said the current scheme of affairs may be temporary.
“For the time being, it might seem that Sidhu is projecting himself as the de facto CM of the state while Channi is the puppet CM. But the manner in which the political situation is emerging in the state, I believe that in no time Channi will emerge from the shadows and become an icon of the downtrodden and if the Congress wins the elections in Punjab next year it will not be easy for the party high command to remove Channi.”
The Print reached Sidhu and his media team head Smit Singh by calls and texts for comment but there was no response till the time of publishing this report.
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‘Four power centres’
Meanwhile, sources in the government say that, four distinct power centres seem to be emerging in the government since Channi assumed office. These are Channi, Sidhu, and deputy CMs Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and O.P. Soni.
Channi is considered to be extremely close to former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who is said to have played an instrumental role in his elevation as CM.
Even the party high command, comprising Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi, besides Congress general secretaries K.C. Venugopal and Harish Rawat (Punjab in-charge), have found a foothold in the Punjab government’s internal decision-making through their choice of an “accommodating” Channi, the sources said.
Amarinder, for one, criticised the fact that the CM and his deputies along with Sidhu went to Delhi for the exercise of finalising cabinet ministers, and sat with Venugopal and spokesperson Randeep Surjewala, who are from Kerala and Haryana, respectively.
While no consensus seems to have emerged on the cabinet, the first clear signs of this influence appeared to play out with the appointment of Chief Secretary Anirudh Tewari, known to be close to Manpreet Badal.
Government sources said the likely new advocate general D.S. Patwalia is close to Sidhu. Senior advocate Anupam Gupta, who was the first choice of Channi for the post, declined the position.
Sidhu, the sources added, is also trying to bring in senior IPS officer Harpreet Singh Sidhu, currently the chief of the state task force on drug control, to the vital post of state vigilance bureau chief.
On the aforementioned Amritsar visit, Sidhu is believed to have ensured that his close aide Damandeep Singh was appointed as chairman of the Amritsar Improvement Trust. A news video showed Sidhu summoning Damandeep where he sat with the CM, and hand over his appointment letter to Channi. Channi, who appeared to have seen the appointment letter for the first time, read it twice before giving it to Damandeep.
Channi, meanwhile, chose Hussan Lal as his principal secretary, while Rahul Tewari, who was his principal secretary in the employment generation department, is his special secretary.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
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