Charanjit Singh Channi To Be Punjab Chief Minister, Day After Amarinder Singh Quit

The Indian National Congress has chosen Charanjit Singh Channi as the next chief minister of Punjab, a day after Capt. Amarinder Singh resigned from the post. Harish Rawat, the All India Congress Committee’s in-charge for Punjab announced Channi’s election as the Congress Legislature Party leader, making him the chief minister designate.

Channi was Minister for Technical Education & Industrial Training, Employment Generation & Training, Tourism and Cultural Affairs in the Amarinder Singh government, and represents the Chamkaur Sahib assembly constituency in the Rupnagar district of Punjab.

The state is months away from assembly elections that are due in February 2022, and the incoming chief minister is likely to get a small window of a few months to roll out any new policy initiatives before the Election Commission of India imposes its Model Code of Conduct in the run-up to polls.

After meeting the governor on Saturday, Amarinder Singh had said he feels “humiliated the way doubts have been raised against me...they (Congress) will appoint whoever they trust as the next chief minister.” The opposition to Capt. Singh had been led by Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had made multiple represenations to the Congress leadership in Delhi over the last few months.

Over 50 MLAs in the party had written to Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi seeking that Amarinder Singh be replaced as chief minister, who had been serving his second term, after winning the state elections in 2017.