Ravi S Singh
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, September 20
BSP chief Mayawati, an ally of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab, on Monday slammed the Congress for its “poll gimmick” in installing Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit Sikh, as the new chief minister of Punjab.
She also congratulated Channi for his appointment to the post.
Sources said Mayawati lashed out at the Congress following her telephonic conversation with SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday evening after Channi’s name was cleared for the top post.
After Channi took oath as chief minister, Mayawati reacted saying it would have been better had Channi been made the chief minister earlier.
“Channi’s appointment as the CM months before the Punjab Assembly elections appears to be a poll gimmick,” Mayawati was quoted as saying to a news agency.
She took a dig at the Congress’s announcement that the Assembly election would be led by its state president Navjot Singh Siddhu and not by Channi.
“I have also come to know through media that the next Punjab Assembly election will be fought under a non-Dalit. This means the Congress still does not trust the Dalits. The Congress is also scared of the SAD-BSP alliance in Punjab,” the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said.
Sources said during the conversation with Badal, the two took stock of the political situation and exchanged notes. Badal told her that the appointment of Channi was the Congress’s desperate move and last roll of the dice to salvage itself before the Assembly election following the feud among its leaders.
The SAD’s perception is that the Congress dropped the idea of replacing Amarinder Singh with a Jat Sikh at the eleventh hour to prevent further infighting among Jat Sikh leaders in the party.
Mayawati and Badal were of view that the SAD-BSP should not be distracted from its own proactive moves, as the Dalit community would not be taken in by the Congress’s moves.
Congress appointing Charanjit Channi as Punjab CM is a poll gimmick, says Mayawati
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