Rahul may announce Punjab CM's face on Feb 6

Chandigarh, Feb 3 (IANS) Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is likely to announce the chief minister's face in his virtual address from Ludhiana city in Punjab on February 6, sources said on Thursday.

This will be his second visit to the state in less than a week.

In his previous visit, Rahul Gandhi had assured workers that the party will decide CM candidate well ahead of the February 20 polling.

With his assurance a power struggle is on between party state President Navjot Sidhu and Charanjit Singh Channi, the first Dalit Chief Minister of a state that is home to 32 per cent Scheduled Caste population, the country's largest, to be the chief ministerial candidate.

Currently, voters have been getting tele-calls to give their opinion as to who should nominate the Congress as its chief ministerial candidate.

In the fray for 117 seats in Punjab are three prominent parties -- the ruling Congress, the opposition Aam Aadmi Party and the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, and two alliances -- the SAD-BSP and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress.

Punjab will go to polls in a single phase on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.