AMN
NEW DELHI / Chandigarh
The All India Congress Committee today cleared the name of Dalit leader Charanjit Singh Channi as the new Chief Minister of Punjab.
The name announced after a day of hectic political activity that saw pulls and pressures from several claimants.
Channi will become the first Dalit Sikh leader to become the chief minister, although his term would be short given that the state would vote for a new assembly early next year. He was the leader of the opposition from 2015 until 2017 when Congress was voted to power.
Harish Rawat, the AICC General Secretary in charge of Punjab, made a formal announcement on Sunday evening.
“It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. Charanjit Singh Channi has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab,” Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat said.
Punjab CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi reached Governor’s house with AICC observers. Governor Banwarilal Purohit had called senior Congress leaders, including Channi and Rawat, to meet him.
Congratulating Channi, Capt Amarinder Singh said, “My best wishes to Charanjit Singh Channi. I hope he’s able to keep the border state of Punjab safe and protect our people from the growing security threat from across the border.”
The appointment of a Dalit face in the otherwise in the Jat-dominated Punjab politics would change the dynamics of the state politics in the run-up to the 2022 Assembly elections. Dalits have 33 per cent vote share in the state.
Channi’s appointment came through after Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu objected to Sukhjinder Randhawa, whose name the AICC appointed observers had previously zeroed in on for the position.