Jalandhar, February 9
The midnight campaign of Chief Minister Charanjit S Channi was unique from various aspects. Besides the unusual timings for holding rallies, even the NRI special effect could be seen.
A picture of Channi sitting on a car’s roof as it passed through the lanes of Jalandhar West became went viral this morning. In the photograph, Channi is seen wearing a huge garland of US dollar currency notes. Offering garlands of Indian currency notes to politicians at the time of elections is common but presenting garlands of dollars is peculiar only to NRI-dominated Doaba region. The RBI has time and again issued guidelines against the use of currency notes in garlands.
Congress leaders, accompanying the CM, said the garland was presented to him by a supporter when he had gone to pay obeisance at Guru Ravidass Dham at Guru Ravidass Chowk on Tuesday night. Besides the dham, Channi’s also visited Kabir Mandir along with Jalandhar West MLA Sushil Rinku. The video footage of the mandir visit was shared by the MLA on his Facebook page as well.
The visit assumes importance as the constituency has a huge following of over 30,000 voters from the Bhagat community and there has been a buzz of vote consolidation with BJP candidate Mahinder Bhagat in the area. The visit to the temple was clearly an attempt to break any such consolidation which could have damaged the prospects of Rinku.
The CM’s campaign continued past 1 am after which he stayed for over an hour at the residence of his relative and ex-minister MS Kaypee near Model Town.
NRI effect: Charanjit Channi garlanded with dollars during roadshow
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