Punjab polls: Congress leaders anxious as ‘poor man’ Channi faces attack over his assets

Sources said that the Congress, playing SC card in naming Channi as CM candidate, did not want to come across as fielding an SC as the party had the image of being a secular party. So, they decided to project him as a poor man.

Another party leader, however, said that Rahul Gandhi had called him “gareeb ghar ka CM” and “jisne gareebi dekhi hai.”

Also, the leader said, “How does Channi come across as an affluent man? He dresses up so simply. His lifestyle does not reek of dirty riches. He squats on the ground at a poor man’s house to savour saag and makki di roti. Is it a crime to be born to a poor man and then make a decent living for oneself?”

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Chief Ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann was the first one to raise the issue to say that Channi had property worth Rs 170 crore and he was not a poor man. Channi was quick to refute that attack and say that Bhagwant Mann aspired to be CM when he was not even capable of doing basis maths.

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Channi went on to call Mann an “illeterate” who could not even read the affidavit well. The CM said that in the affidavit he was worth Rs 1.70 crore and Mann was making it to be Rs 170 crore.

As per Channi’s affidavit submitted to ECI while filing his nomination from Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur, he and his wife are worth Rs 9.44 crore.

An aide of Bhagwant Mann said that Mann was given information by a close aide of Channi about his property. ”Why would Mann give a wrong figure? Channi would be much more that Rs 170 crore.”

But Channi’s counter failed to shield him from more attacks.

After Mann, several political party leaders attacked Channi. Even, PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s family has also countered Rahul Gandhi’s claim of Channi being a poor man.

Interestingly, Navjot Sidhu’s wife Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has been saying, “If you check the IT returns of Channi and Sidhu, the latter would turn out to be poorer than the former.”

SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal also reacted to Rahul’s reference to Channi and asked how could anyone be poor if his nephew keeps Rs 10 crore at home.

BJP leader Tarun Chugh also questioned Channi saying he had property worth crores and he could not be a poor man by any yardstick.
Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh has also been making it a point to attack Channi by referring to raids by Enforcement Directorate on his nephew. On Wednesday, he asked, “How can Channi claim to be a poor aam aadmi?” Amarinder said Rs 10 crore confiscated from his nephew were earned from illegal sand mining as well as transfers and postings.