Week left and no Sunil Jakhar & Navjot Singh Sidhu for help, Punjab CM Charanjit Singh Channi leads campaign

BATHINDA: With a week left to campaigning, Congress’s chief minister face for Punjab elections Charanjit Singh Channi has been campaigning for party candidates across the state.
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu is confined to his assembly segment of Amritsar East and former president Sunil Jakhar is campaigning only for nephew Sandeep Jakhar in Abohar.In this scenario, Channi is the only leader who is also campaigning for others. On Friday night, Channi reached Barnala to campaign for party candidate Manish Bansal, son of former Union minister Pawan Kumar Bansal.
In Barnala, Channi hit back at his AAP counterpart Bhagwant Mann’s jibes over his wealth. Channi said Bhagwant was making claims that he had assets worth Rs 170 crore (Channi’s affidavit says he owns assets worth Rs 9.5 crore) and if it was so, he could swap his wealth and become a wealthy person. Channi also took on AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, saying that he was eyeing Punjab to grab power and wanted to activate his wife Sunita Kejriwal for it.
Campaigning for Manish, Channi said either Mann remained intoxicated or could not read, otherwise he could not have twisted the facts about his assets. “Bhagwant wants to mislead people with an aim to show me as mega rich, which is not true. I have faced poverty and know the hardships a poor has to face in life,” he said.
Even finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal and transport minister Amrinder Singh Raja Warring have been facing a tough time in campaigning in their constituencies of Bathinda Urban and Gidderbaha, respectively. Manpreet has been banking on the Channi goverment 111-day performance for votes. On the other hand, Warring is facing backlash for the action he took as the transport minister against private transporters for flouting rules.
In Barnala, Channi said his aim of contesting from Malwa region was to ensure all-round development. “For it, I have got the support of All India Congress Committee treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal, who also has the experience of serving the nation as a Union minister. Both of us will work in Malwa in unison,” he said.
Channi campaigned across Malwa region on Saturday too. Pawan Bansal and son Manish said Congress was the only party which could provide a stable government.