Manohar Singh will contest the upcoming polls as an Independent candidate
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi today said that he will talk to his brother Manohar Singh who was denied a poll ticket by Congress.
Mr Channi's remarks came after his brother said he will contest as an Independent candidate from Punjab's Bassi Pathana Assembly seat against the sitting Congress MLA.
The Chief Minister also indicated that he may try to prevail upon his brother not to jump in the fray against the sitting MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from the constituency.
Mr Channi's brother Manohar Singh, who was eyeing a Congress ticket from the Bassi Pathana Assembly seat, had on Sunday said he will contest as an Independent from the constituency after the ruling party fielded its sitting legislator Gurpreet Singh GP. Manohar Singh said that he took the decision to contest as an independent after meeting several councillors, village sarpanch and panch.
"He sought a ticket but the party denied it. Gurpreet Singh GP, too, is our brother. Will make them sit and talk and the issue will be resolved," Mr Channi told reporters.
Manohar Singh had dubbed the Congress's decision to give the ticket to Gurpreet Singh GP as "injustice" to the people of the constituency and alleged that the sitting legislator was "incapable and ineffective".
Manohar Singh, an MBBS and MD, had in August last year resigned as a senior medical officer from Kharar Civil Hospital.
"As far as my brother is concerned, we live in a joint family. My brother became a doctor after doing MD. He was employed as a government doctor and was posted in the Bassi Pathana as SMO," Mr Channi said.
"The MLA of the area GP got him transferred. He (Manohar Singh) also told the MLA that he is the brother of the minister (Charanjit Channi was then a Minister then in the Amarinder Singh-led Cabinet). After this, my brother took the decision to quit the job, and later the people of the area told him that he should contest the election."
Earlier in the day, AAP leader Raghav Chadha had alleged that by denying tickets to the brother and another relative of Punjab Chief Minister Channi, the Congress has proved that it had made him the Chief Minister merely for "using him as a tool" to get the Scheduled Caste votes.
Apart from Channi's brother, his relative Mohinder Singh Kaypee, who wanted the ticket from the Adampur seat in Jalandhar, was also denied a ticket, said Raghav Chadha, alleging that Mr Kaypee was denied the ticket because he was Mr Channi's relative.
Raghav Chadha further alleged that the Congress had in the past appointed Sushil Kumar Shinde as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra for a few months to woo votes of a particular community and later removed him after elections.