Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday congratulated Charanjit Singh Channi for his new role as the new chief minister of Punjab. Gandhi said that the party must ‘continue to fulfill the promises made to the people of Punjab.’
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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,” the Congress leader said in a tweet.
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.
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 19, 2021
The name of Channi was announced by AIIC General Secretary in charge of Punjab, Harish Rawat, who took to Twitter to write, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab.”
According to earlier reports, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa was widely tipped to succeed Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned from his post on Saturday. Reacting to Channi’s name for the next CM post, Randhawa said that he was happy with the ‘high command’s decision.’ “I want to thank all MLAs who supported me. Channi is my brother,” he was quoted by NDTV as saying.
Channi is also the first Dalit Sikh chief minister of Punjab and the move could help the Congress extract the much-needed electoral mileage in the next year’s assembly polls. Punjab has more than 30 percent Dalit voters. The decision to appoint Channi as the next chief minister also appears to be a clever ploy to counter the Akali Dal’s electoral alliance with Mayawati, a known Dalit politician, ahead of the next assembly elections.
58-year-old Channi, who is a three-term MLA from Rupnagar’s Chamkaur Sahib, will take the oath of office at 11 AM on Monday.
Channi was accused of sending an inappropriate text message to a female IAS officer in 2018. The IAS officer never filed a formal complaint against Channi.