Never backstabbed Capt Amarinder Singh, says CM Channi at News18 Rising Punjab event

Chief Minister Chiranjeet Singh Channi, speaking at the News18 Rising Punjab event ahead of the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly elections, said he is not a leader but a worker. “I never backstabbed Amarinder Singh,” Channi said, adding that that nobody in his family is an MLA or minister. Channi said, “It happened suddenly that Capt Amarinder Singh was asked to resign as the chief minister of Punjab. The chief minister at that time was not working, instead, bureaucracy was governing the state. He was not aware of what was going on outside of his residence.” I did not made any promises but took a few decisions and implemented those decision, Channi said. “I am not some ’elanjeet singh’ (announcement maker) but ‘vishwasjeet singh (trusted person) who implements decisions on the ground,” Channi added. The chief minister further said some people are ‘game-changers’ but he was not one of them. He said that he could be wrong but the people can’t be wrong. Speaking of the elections, the Punjab chief minister said that it was a battle between elite people and common people, and not castes or religions. “No power goes to people on the principle of ‘Sarbat da Bhala’, money now flows to people and not rich”, said Channi. Taking a jibe at AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal, Channi said, “Kejriwal is an outsider like the British. They want to rule Punjab but why shouldn’t the people of Punjab rule Punjab? Punjab is not some land that can be grabbed by outsiders.” Further taking aim at the AAP, Channi said that they were big and special people and asked people not to refer to them as Aam Aadmi (common man).  He said that AAP has sent a “young kid” (Raghav Chadha) to Punjab and are unnecessarily trying to create hype. Channi added that AAP had lost the faith of people in Punjab as 11 of 20 MLAs left them in Punjab. Speaking on the chief minister face of Congress in Punjab elections, Channi said people and the party will decide on who they want to be the face. In his concluding remarks, the Punjab chief minister said that Ram was inside everyone and Ram knew the truth. He claimed that the Badals had cheated people and made huge money. He added that he had no piece of land in his name.