As Charanjit Singh Channi become CM the SC population of state have become active, staging dharnas and sending out their demands to the new dispensation.(file photo)Punjab Congress Crisis Highlights: Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Sunday lauded Congressâs move to replace Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi, who will be the first Dalit CM of Punjab. Sidhu tweeted, âHistoric !! Punjabâs first Dalit CM-Designate ⌠Will be written with Golden letters in History. A tribute to the spirit of the Constitution and the Congress !!â
A day after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down, Charanjit Singh Channi was chosen as the next Punjab Chief Minister. Channi, who will be the first Dalit CM of Punjab, will take oath at 11 am on Monday. âWe have presented our stance, unanimously supported by party MLAs, before the Governor. Oath-taking ceremony will be held at 11 am tomorrow,â Channi was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Channi was the Leader of Opposition in Vidhan Sabha during the previous SAD-BJP regime. The Chamkaur Sahib MLA was inducted as the minister in in the first Cabinet and was allotted the portfolios of Technical Education and Industrial Training, Employment Generation and Training, and Tourism and Culture Affairs. He has been vocal against Amarinder for ânot paying attentionâ to issues raised by party leaders.
Channi had been vocal in raising the Dalit issues in the state and had recently rebelled against Amarinder. He is considered close to AICC leader Rahul Gandhi and became the choice of the Congress high command for the post after two Jat Sikhs Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu opposed the partyâs move to appoint a Hindu leader Sunil Jakhar. His name was announced amid the fight for power among the Jat Sikh leaders.
On Saturday, hours before Amarinder resigned as the CM, he wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressing anguish over the political events of the last 5 months. These events, Amarinder wrote, were clearly ânot based on full understanding of the national imperatives of Punjab and its key concerns.â
Sources in the Congress high command said that surveys, both internal and conducted through external agencies, show that Amarinderâs popularity is on the wane. (File Photo/Express Archive)
With Congress making it clear that they may appoint two deputies for Punjab chief minister-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, at least one of the leaders party reached out to for the post declined the offer.
Former state Congress chief Sunil Kumar Jakhar, who was in the reckoning for chief minister’s post, Sunday refused to be appointed as a deputy CM.
A Congress central observer had called up Jakhar even before party announced Channi’s name successor for Capt Amarinder Singh who had resigned on Saturday. Jakhar refused to accept the offer. Later, another senior leader from Delhi called him with the same offer, but Jakhar did not budge from his stand. Read more
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said, "The Congress creates a new history by appointing Punjab's first Dalit CM in Sardar Charanjit Channi."
"Let times record that this decision will singularly fortify social justice and open new doors of empowerment for our Dalit, Backward and disadvantaged brothers and sisters across India," he said on Twitter.
Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore congratulated Channi. "May you continue to serve the people of Punjab with dedication and integrity and champion the ideologies of the Congress. New Chapter begins. He will be the only Dalit CM of the country after taking oath. There are BJP government in 12 states, not a single Dalit CM has been made," he said on Twitter.
He thanked Congress President Sonia Gandhiji and his leader Rahul Gandhi for giving the voice to the last row.
The Congress SC department hailed Channi's appointment and said Punjab -- the state with the highest Dalit population -- will see its first Dalit chief minister. (PTI)
The decision of the Congress to appoint Charanjit Singh Channi as the new chief minister of Punjab has drawn tepid response from Dalit organisations in the state. Notably, Channi is set to become the first chief minister from the Dalit community in Punjab, where 31.9% of the population hails from the Dalit community.
“It is a mere pre-election stunt and the Congress is trying to cash in on the fact that Channi is both a Dalit and a Sikh face. Punjab will go to the polls in another four to five months and the code of conduct will be imposed at least a month prior to the election. So, the new chief minister does not have much time on his hands,” Zora Singh Nasrali, the president of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union (PKMU), said. Read more
Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu lauded Congress’s move to replace Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi, who will be the first Dalit CM of Punjab. Sidhu tweeted, “Historic !! Punjab’s first Dalit CM-Designate … Will be written with Golden letters in History. A tribute to the spirit of the Constitution and the Congress !!”
Sunil Jakhar is a seasoned and straight-talking politician. The 67-year-old former Punjab Congress chief is also known to weigh his words, choosing them carefully. So, when he made a cryptic tweet on Saturday about Rahul Gandhi finding an “Alexandrian solution” to the “Gordian knot” into which the Punjab Congress crisis had transformed, it made political experts sit up and take note. The experts believe there’s lot to read between the lines in the tweet Jakhar made. Read explained by Anju Agnihotri Chaba
By announcing Charanjit Singh Channi as the next Chief Minister of Punjab, the Congress has played a Dalit card in the state.
The Opposition parties in Punjab have been trying to woo the Dalits in the state having an SC population of 32 per cent as per the last census. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has already announced that their Deputy Chief Minister would be a Dalit while the BJP has declared that their Chief Minister would be from the same community.
The SAD has allied with BSP to woo the Dalits who are considered a vote bank of Mayawati’s party. Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal had also announced that if AAP wins Punjab, a Dalit would be the Deputy Chief Minister. Read more
The faction-ridden Punjab Congress delivered a huge surprise when it chose Charanjit Singh Channi, 48, the minister of technical educational and industrial training, to be the next chief minister.
Channi will also be the first Dalit CM of a state where this post had become the monopoly of Jat Sikhs.
We bring you the reasons why Channi was chosen by the Congress as Captain Amarinder Singh’s successor. Read explained copy by Manraj Grewal Sharma
The BJP on Sunday took a swipe at the Congress over its Punjab chief ministerial pick Charanjit Singh Channi, citing reported allegations that he had sent an inappropriate text to an IAS officer in 2018.
BJP leader Amit Malviya, who is its IT department head, tweeted, "Congress's CM pick Charanjit Channi faces action in a 3-year-old MeToo case. He had allegedly sent an inappropriate text to a woman IAS officer in 2018. It was covered up but the case resurfaced when Punjab Women's Commission sent notice. Well done, Rahul."
The issue had resurfaced in May this year when Punjab women panel chief threatened to go on a hunger strike if the state government failed to apprise her within a week of its stand on the “inappropriate text” message allegedly sent by Channi, who was then a minister in the Amarinder Singh government.
Punjab Women Commission chairperson Manisha Gulati had said she had written to the chief secretary seeking the government's action taken report.
Malviya also posted a story reported in May this year that said that outgoing chief minister Amarinder Singh's rivals within the party had accused him of "hounding" them with old cases. (PTI)
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has congratulated Charanjit Singh Channi, the new Chief Minister of Punjab, in a statement issued from the party headquarters on Sunday.
“AAP hopes that Charanjit Singh Channi will fulfil all the promises made by the Congress in 2017 during his four to five-month tenure, as the ruling Congress has not been able to deliver on a single promise in the last four and a half years,” the statement said. Read more
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi congratulated Charanjit Singh Channi after he was chosen as the next Punjab CM. Gandhi tweeted, “Congratulations to Shri Charanjit Singh Channi Ji for the new responsibility. We must continue to fulfill the promises made to the people of Punjab. Their trust is of paramount importance.”
“We have presented our stance, unanimously supported by party MLAs, before the Governor. The oath-taking ceremony will take place at 11 am tomorrow,” says Punjab CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi.
The BJP on Sunday sought clarification from Congress president Sonia Gandhi over former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s remarks terming Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu an “anti-national”.
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that Captain Amarinder Singh described Sidhu as a “man having close links with Pakistan”. Read more
Minutes after Charanjit Singh Channi was nominated to be the leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), Captain Amarinder Singh stated that he hoped that the Dalit minister will keep Punjab safe.
“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,” Amarinder Singh was quoted as saying by Raveen Thukral, the Congress leader’s media advisor. Read more
“It's high command's decision. I welcome it. Channi is like my younger brother...I am not at all disappointed,” says Congress leader Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa after announcement of Charanjit Singh Channi being chosen as next Punjab Chief Minister.
Punjab CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi reaches Governor's house, Chandigarh.
Supporters of new Punjab CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi celebrate outside Governor's house in Chandigarh
A grassroots-level leader, Channi had won local bodies polls on a Congress ticket from Kharar in the early 2000s. He rebelled against the party nominee in the 2007 Assembly polls, and went on to contest and win as an Independent.
He then became an associate member of the Shiromani Akali Dal in the Assembly and got very close to PPP’s Manpreet Badal, who was a minister in Amarinder’s cabinet. Read more
Punjab CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi's family has reached the Punjab Raj Bhavan.
A day after Captain Amarinder Singh stepped down, Charanjeet Singh Channi was chosen as the next Punjab Chief Minister. He will be the first Dalit CM of Punjab. Confirming the news, Harish Rawat tweeted, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab.”
Seizing on outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s charge of anti-national against state Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, the BJP on Sunday said Singh has voiced an issue which the country had been grappling with and asked the opposition party if it will take cognizance of the allegations and take action.
Senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar termed Singh’s charges “extremely serious” and asked why Congress president Sonia Gandhi and its two other main leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have kept silent. Read more
Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, a minister in the outgoing cabinet of Amarinder Singh whose name is doing the rounds among the probables to be the new leader of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Punjab, on Sunday asserted that he has never hankered after posts.
Asked that his name was among the frontrunners, Randhawa replied he or his family "never hankers for any post". When the mediapersons here asked that can it be assumed that they are talking to the future chief minister, Randhawa quipped, " You are talking to a Congressman". In a veiled dig at Amarinder Singh, he then added, "A chief minister remains (in his post) only till the time when his party, people of the state stand by him".
Asked how soon can one expect the name of new CLP leader to be announced, Randhawa said, "We have authorized Congress president in this regard." He said the party senior leadership has not only to talk to the MLAs, but other stalwarts too before finalizing the name.
Asked why so much time is being taken to announce the CLP leader, he said, "If you have to make a village sarpanch, sometimes it takes 20 days to decide".
On Amarinder Singh saying he felt humiliated, Randhawa replied, "So far, the BJP has changed five chief ministers. And in the Congress too, some chief ministers have been changed. In Congress, Amarinder Singh has the maximum tenure of nine-and-half years as chief minister. The honour he got, I think no other chief minister got so much." (PTI)
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi returns to his residence after meeting party president Sonia Gandhi.
Official information (on CM's name) will be announced by people who have come from Delhi through a presser, says Congress leader Kaka Randeep Singh (ANI)
The Congress high command’s plans to appoint former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president Sunil Jakhar as the new chief minister of the state has been met with firm resistance. Sources said all the MPs from the state have unitedly conveyed to the leadership that they will not accept Jakhar.
They are agreeable to Rajya Sabha MP Partap Singh Bajwa but the leadership fears his equations with PPCC president Navjot Singh Sidhu are not good. “They will end up fighting. It will go back to square one. If Amarinder was removed because the state Congress chief and the chief minister are pulling in different directions, then installing Bajwa would not solve that problem,” a senior leader said. Sidhu too is not in favour of Bajwa. Read more
Hours before Captain Amarinder Singh resigned as the cheif minister of Punjab, he wrote to Congress President Sonia Gandhi expressing anguish over the political events of the last 5 months. These events, Aamrinder wrote, were clearly “not based on full understanding of the national imperatives of Punjab and its key concerns.”
“Notwithstanding my personal anguish, I hope this will not cause any damage to the hard-earned peace and development in the State, and that the efforts I have been focusing during the last few years, would continue unabated, ensuring justice to one and all,” he wrote.
On a day the Congress deferred its legislative party meet, Rajya Sabha member and veteran party leader Ambika Soni told reporters in Delhi that she has refused the party high command’s offer to be Punjab’s next chief minister, following Captain Amarinder Singh’s resignation.
The Congress MP on Sunday stated that she had declined the offer because she believes that Punjab’s chief minister should be from the Sikh community.
“Punjab’s chief should be a Sikh face. It’s the only region in the whole country where a Sikh leads,” Soni said.
Take a look at scenes from outside Punjab Congress Bhawan on Sunday, as the announcement of a new CM candidate is likely today.
A day after Captain Amarinder Singh tendered his resignation as the Punjab Chief Minister, Rajasthan’s Ashok Gehlot said that he hopes that Singh won’t take any step which will damage the Congress party.
“I hope that Captain Amarinder Singh ji will not take any such step which will damage the Congress party. Captain Sahab has himself said that the party had made him the chief minister for nine and half years. He has worked to his maximum capacity and served the public of Punjab,” the Rajasthan Chief Minister tweeted.
The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in Punjab has left the decision to choose the new chief minister of the state to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. However, the names of four senior Congress leaders — Sunil Jakhar, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Partap Singh Bajwa — have been doing the rounds as probable candidates for the post.
Former PCC president Sunil Jakhar’s name as a CM probable has raised considerable interest in political quarters in Punjab. This would be the first time after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966, when the state got bifurcated into Punjab and Haryana, that there would be a Hindu chief minister.
The 62-year-old Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is the Jails and Cooperation Minister in the outgoing cabinet of Captain Amarinder Singh. Hailing from Gurdaspur district in the Majha region, considered to be the wild west of Punjab, Randhawa is a three-time Congress MLA and has been elected in 2002, 2007 and 2017.
Also hailing from Gurdaspur district is 64-year-old Partap Singh Bajwa who is among the senior most Congress leaders of the state and is present a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab.
And finally, Navjot Singh Sidhu, the present president of Pradesh Congress committee and a former minister in Captain Amarinder Singh’s cabinet who has been the lynchpin of the attack launched on Capt Amarinder Singh.
While former PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar’s name was finalised till last evening, the party had held it back after murmurs of protest during the CLP meet on Saturday.
According to sources, several leaders from Punjab objected to the choice of a Hindu as the CM candidate. They are learnt to have stated that if Congress names a Hindu, Sikhs would get upset. Hectic parleys were on in a local hotel where the Central observers were staying. AICC leader Rahul Gandhi also held a meeting late at night in Delhi.
“A Sikh leader told the observers that if a Hindu is made the CM, coming generations of Sikhs would not forgive them for allowing that as there is only one state out of 28 in India that has always had a Sikh CM after reorganisation of Punjab. It will become an issue. They even told the party high command that if Congress has a Hindu leader then AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal would easily become the CM candidate in next Assembly elections and he would really get a lot of traction,” a source privy to discussions said. (With Kanchan Vasdev)
With no consensus on the name of the next Chief Minister, the Congress has deferred its CLP meeting scheduled on Sunday as the high command has started calling up party MLAs to take their opinion on the most suitable leaders for the post.
“An exercise was started an hour and a half ago to call up each MLA and get a quick survey on the probables done. Let us see what comes comes out of it,” said a party leader. (With Kanchan Vasdev)
If Congress picks Sunil Jakhar as the next chief minister of Punjab, he will only be the fourth Hindu face to head the state since 1947 and the first after 1966 when the Patiala and East Punjab States Union (PEPSU) was reorganised and Haryana was carved out, creating Punjab as a Sikh-majority state. All three previous Hindu CMs – Gopi Chand Bhargava, Bhim Sen Sachar and Ram Kishan – were from Congress and had played vital role in Indian freedom struggle.
Gopi Chand Bhargava
He was the first CM of undivided Punjab from August 1947 to April 1949. He again helmed the post from October 1949 to June 1951 and then for a brief period in June-July 1964. Hailing from Sirsa district (now in Haryana), he was an MBBS graduate from Lahore. He along with his brother Pandit Thakur Das Bhargava, had started ‘Vidya Pracharini Sabha’ and participated in India’s freedom struggle.
Bhim Sen Sachar
He was Punjab CM from April to October 1949, from April 1952 to July 1953, and then from July 1953 to January 1956. He was the first elected CM of Punjab (in 1952), winning from Ludhiana city south. Amid allegations of corruption and conflict with his Cabinet colleagues, he had to resign once in July 1953 but was soon re-sworn as CM. Born in Peshawar (now in Pakistan), he had joined Indian National Congress during freedom struggle.
Ram Kishan
Born in Jhang, now in Pakistan, he later shifted to Jalandhar, and was Punjab CM from July 1964-July 1966, when he had to resign as Punjab Assembly was dissolved for reorganization of the state and creation of Haryana. He was the last Hindu face as Punjab CM. He was given the honorific title of ‘Comrade’ due to his contribution in Indian freedom struggle. (With Divya Goyal Gopal)
“A meeting of MLAs was held with Harish Rawat ji and Ajay Maken ji yesterday. A resolution was passed that Sonia Gandhi ji's decision will be final on this matter. Today you will get to know her decision,” Pawan Goel, Working President, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee told ANI.
The Majha brigade of the Punjab Congress, which includes the trio of ministers Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, apart from Charanjit Singh Channi — all handpicked by Captain Amarinder Singh for his Cabinet — led the open revolt that ended in his resignation on Saturday.
The rebellion was anchored by state Congress president and Amritsar East MLA Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The four rebel ministers on August 25 had met party affairs in-charge Harish Rawat in Dehradun where they accused Amarinder of being in a clandestine truck with the opposition SAD. They alleged that Amarinder had failed to bring perpetrators of the sacrilege of Guru Granth Sahib and those behind the death of two anti-sacrilege protestors to book, and blamed him for not honouring the pre-2017 poll promise of ending the drug menace in the state. The rebel Congress leaders said it would be difficult to go to the electorate ahead of the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections in light of the Congress government not fulfilling the key promises. Here is a look at the leaders who led the revolt. (Read Navjeevan Gopal's report here)
A day after he resigned, Captain Amarinder Singh’s successor and the new chief minister of Punjab will likely be announced Sunday noon, as Congress will meet at 11 am today.
Asked if the party were to appoint Navjot Singh Sidhu or Sunil Jakhar as chief minister, he said: “I will never accept Navjot Sidhu as CM. He is a total disaster. He could not run a single ministry. How will he run the whole state? I know his capability.” The former Punjab chief minister, however, did not comment on Jakhar. Read full story by Kanchan Vasdev here
Governance in Punjab has been the biggest casualty in the Congress party's 'Game of Thrones', the opposition AAP said on Saturday after Chief Minister Amarinder Singh resigned following months of a power tussle in the ruling party. In a video message, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Raghav Chadha said the issues of Punjab have been put on the back burner amid a power struggle in the ruling party. "Congress has cheated the people of Punjab. They do not care about the welfare of Punjab, but their own personal happiness. Congress is a drowning Titanic that neither has vision nor commitment or performance," Chadha said in Punjabi. --PTI
Congress leaders can be seen entering the party headquarters in Chandigarh Saturday. Two resolutions were passed in the Punjab CLP meeting held at the party headquarters today.
Senior Congress leader Ajay Maken said 78 out of 80 MLAs attended the CLP meeting. However, name of the CM probables were not discussed in the meeting.
Two resolutions passed in Punjab CLP meeting on Saturday.
First, a resolution was passed to appreciate the outgoing CLP leader, who headed the government with utmost ability and gave good governance to Punjab, faced the challenges and handled them, said Harish Rawat, AICC general secretary in charge of Punjab.
In the second resolution, Punjab CLP authorised Congress President (CP) to select the next CLP leader. "We will inform about the next CLP leader once it is conveyed to us by the CP," said Rawat.
The Punjab Governor Shri Banwarilal Purohit accepted his resignation and that of his council of Ministers. The Governor asked him and his Council of Ministers to continue in office, for transaction of routine business, till alternative arrangements are made.
CLP meeting passes a resolution authorising Congress president Sonia Gandhi to appoint next CLP leader. Party general secretary in-charge Harish Rawat and AICC observers go into a huddle in a separate room. MLAs are still inside PPCC headquarters.
Congress Legislature Party meeting is underway. Amarinder Singh, however, has skipped the meeting.
Chief Principal Secretary to Amarinder, Suresh Kumar and Political Secretary to Punjab CM, Capt Sandeep Sandhu resign from their respective posts.
Captain Amarinder Singh interacts with media outside Punjab Raj Bhavan.
A soldier, a military historian, a chef, an avid gardener, and a politician. Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh is one of those rare political leaders who can traverse different fields with elan. But clearly, he failed to negotiate the political landmine, which is partly of his own making, in Punjab. Here's more about the 'people's maharaja' who lost the common touch
After a long spell of infighting in the Punjab Congress, the party high command Saturday asked Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to step down from his post. This comes after Navjot Singh Sidhu, Amarinder’s bete noire, was appointed state Congress unit chief.
We bring you the reasons why the Captain was asked to go, months before Punjab Assembly elections. Read our Explainer here
"I feel humiliated, feel they doubt my work. I told the Congress President that I will resign, and they can appoint anyone they have confidence in," Amarinder Singh says.
Amarinder Singh says: "I have been in politics for 52 years. I will talk to my supporters and then I will decide on my future in politics. Future politics is always there, It is an option, I will use that option when the time comes."
"This has happened for the third time. They called MLAs twice in Delhi. And now, this third meeting," Amarinder Singh says. "I feel humiliated, feel they doubt my work. I told the Congress President that I will resign. And they can appoint anyone they have confidence in," he adds.
Soon after tendering his resignation from the post of Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh says: "I have resigned. I had spoken to the Congress president in the morning. I had told her I am resigning."
Amarinder Singh reaches Raj Bhavan to meet Governor with wife Preneet Kaur and media adviser Raveen Thukral accompanying him.
Amarinder Singh’s son Raninder Singh says Captain is going to resign: "...I am proud to accompany my father to Raj Bhawan when he submits his resignation as CM of Punjab and leads us as head of our family into a new beginning et all."
Amid reports that he has been asked to resign as the Punjab Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh will meet Governor Amarinder Singh ahead of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) meeting on Saturday.
Amarinder’s media advisor has tweeted stating that the CM will address the media at 4:30 pm outside Punjab Raj Bhawan. The CLP meeting has been convened at 5 pm.
Earlier, the CM held a meeting with MPs and MLAs at his official residence in Sector 2. Among those who attended the meeting were Cabinet ministers Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Brahm Mohindra, Vijay Inder Singla and Rana Gurmit Sodhi. Read more
Before the Congress Legislature Party meeting, scheduled at 5 pm today, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is slated to meet the Governor at 4.30 pm after which he expected to address the media.
Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh reaches his official residence in Chandigarh for a meeting with party MLAs loyal to him.
Congress observer for Punjab, Ajay Maken arrives at the party office for the Congress Legislative Party meeting. (ANI)