Congress on Sunday announced Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister of Punjab, capping two days of furious political developments after it decided to oust Amarinder Singh in the poll-bound state.
Channi, 48, will be the first Dalit Sikh chief minister of Punjab where scheduled castes form more than 33 per cent of the electorate and are being aggressively wooed by Akali Dal as well as the BJP ahead of the assembly elections, expected in February.
A three-term MLA from Chamkaur Sahib constituency in Malwa region of Punjab, Channi belongs to the Ramdasia Sikh community, and was the minister for Technical Education and Industrial Training in the outgoing government. He was also the Leader of the Opposition from December 2015 to November 2016, when all opposition members resigned over the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue.
Read: Congress explores Dalit dynamics by appointing Charanjit Singh Channi as Punjab chief minister
AICC General Secretary Harish Rawat made the announcement of Channi’s election as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party in Punjab, putting an end to speculation on chief ministerial probables where names of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, veteran leader Ambika Soni, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Sunil Jakhar were tossed up.
Soon after his election as CLP leader, Channi along with Sidhu and other senior Congress leaders called on Governor Banwarilal Purohit to stake claim to form the government.
“The oath taking ceremony is at 11:00 a.m. on Monday,” Channi told reporters outside Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh and refused to answer any other questions.
Outgoing chief minister Amarinder Singh, who had declared that he would oppose Sidhu from becoming the chief minister, congratulated Channi on his election to the top executive post in the state.
The chances of Randhawa, a frontrunner for the chief minister’s post, were nixed by Sidhu, who was against a fellow Jat Sikh being appointed to the top post.
Congress sought to portray itself as a pro-Dalit party through Channi’s appointment as the chief minister.
“Since Independence, there has been no Dalit chief minister in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Rajasthan. Congress has proved itself to be a pro-Dalit party by appointing the first Dalit Chief Minister in North India,” Manpreet Singh Badal, the Finance Minister in the outgoing government, said.
Earlier, the Congress had to defer the meeting of the CLP scheduled for Sunday morning as there was no consensus on Amarinder Singh’s successor.
Veteran leader Ambika Soni turned down the offer to become chief minister citing ill-health and endorsed the candidature of a Sikh leader.
The final decision was announced after a meeting of Congress president Sonia Gandhi and her predecessor Rahul Gandhi in the national capital.
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