Rahul names Amarinder as Punjab CM candidate

Ending all speculation of the past few months over who will be the Congress' chief ministerial candidate in the poll-bound Punjab, party Vice President Rahul Gandhi announced on Friday that Captain Amarinder Singh would head the government if the Congress is voted to power.

Addressing his first political rally in the Akali Dal assembly stronghold of Majitha, near Amritsar, Gandhi said only a Punjabi leader could lead the state.

"Your Chief Minister candidate is sitting here (on the dias). Amarinder Singh is our leader who will head the next government," Gandhi announced.

The Congress is heading for a bitter political fight with the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for the 117-seat assembly on February 4.

Gandhi also said if voted to power, the Congress would bring in such a stringent law against the menace of drugs in Punjab that peddlers would shiver even thinking about drugs. 

"The Congress will fight drugs and we will win it," he said.