42 MLAs wanted me to be Punjab CM after Amarinder's exit, claims senior Congress leader Sunil Jakhar

Chandigarh: Senior Punjab Congress leader Sunil Jakhar has claimed that 42 MLAs wanted him to be the chief minister of the state after the unceremonious exit of Amarinder Singh last year. Only two legislators favoured Charanjit Singh Channi, he said.

Jakhar is heard saying this in a video, which has surfaced online while addressing a gathering in Abohar on Tuesday. Jakhar's nephew, Sandeep, is contesting the Punjab Assembly polls as a Congress candidate from Abohar.

Jakhar was among the front runners for the chief ministerial post after Amarinder Singh's resignation in September last year. But the party preferred Channi, who became the first chief minister of Punjab from the Scheduled Caste community.

"Forty-two votes went for Sunil (Jakhar), 16 for Sukhjinder Randhawa, 12 votes for Maharani Preneet Kaur (Amarinder Singh's wife and Patiala MP), six votes for Navjot Singh Sidhu and two votes for (Charanjit Singh) Channi," Jakhar said in the video.

He claimed he even declined the post of deputy chief minister offered to him by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

"Forty-two MLAs voted for me despite the fact that I was nothing at that time. I was not even PPCC president," Jakhar said, pointing out that the party had sought to know from the MLAs who they wanted to be the chief minister after the exit of Amarinder Singh.

"Seventy-nine MLAs were called up to ask who they wanted to be the CM. Sunil was not even an MLA," he added.

Opposition parties in Punjab hit out at the Congress after Jakhar's revelation, saying this showed that the party is run from Delhi and lacks internal democracy.

Senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Daljit Singh Cheema said Jakhar's statement has exposed the "fraud" committed by the Congress high command in the name of inner-party democracy.

On the distribution of votes disclosed by Jakhar, the Akali Dal leader said it was up to the Congress to set the record straight.

"The Congress party also owes an explanation to the party rank and file as to why it did not proceed on the principle of inner-party democracy. This also shows that the inner-party democracy which the Congress proclaims is a sham and that it is still run in a dictatorial manner by the Gandhi family," he said in a statement.

AAP's state unit chief and chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann said the Congress follows what its high command dictates.

But Navjot Singh Sidhu makes comments on others, he said ridiculing the state Congress chief for questioning the Aam Aadmi Party's survey for deciding its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab polls.

AAP Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh claimed the Congress high command appointed Channi as the chief minister against the recommendations of party MLAs "so that it can remote-control the government in Punjab".

Jarnail Singh said the Congress leaders say that the AAP is being controlled from Delhi when that is the reality of the Sonia Gandhi-led party..