Chiranjit Singh Channi to Take Oath of Office as New Punjab CM

New CM of Punjab to take Oath

Monday, 20th September 2021

Chief minister-elect of Punjab Chiranjit Singh Channi will take oath of office on Monday morning. The event is likely to be a small gathering of forty leaders apart from Channi at the Punjab Rajbhawan. It might also be attended by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi according to sources.

Channi’s appointment to the top post was done on Sunday by the party’s high command, a day after Amarinder Singh stepped down from his position amid bitter power tussle between him and Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) supremo Navjot Singh Sidhu going on for months now.

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Channi said on Sunday, “We have presented our stance, unanimously supported by party MLAs, before the Governor. Oath taking ceremony to take place at 11 am tomorrow.”

AICC general secretary Harish Rawat welcomed the new CM to his post and wrote in a tweet, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab (sic).”

The three-time MLA is the first Dalit chief minister of the state. He got elected to the Punjab VidhanSabha from Chamkaur Sahib Consistency for the first time in 2007 and got re-elected twice again in 2012 and then in 2017. In the 14th Punjab VidhanSabha in 2015, he was elected as the Leader of the Opposition.

After the announcement of Channi’s election was made, Rahul Gandhi took to social media to congratulate the leader and wrote, “We must continue to fulfill the promises made to the people of Punjab. Their trust is of paramount importance.”

The departing chief minister Amarinder Singh also put in a word and said he hoped that Channi is able to keep the “border state of Punjab safe.”

He 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 News Talkie Bureau

Source

NDTV