NewsGate Press Network

By Vineet Dikshit

Dramatic past weekend’s developments in Punjab culminated on Monday morning, 20 September 2021, when Charanjit Singh Channi, a Dalit Sikh, was sworn in as a new Chief Minister.

In an attempt to placate both the warring factions led by Amarinder Singh and Navjot Singh Sidhu, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi personally oversaw the oath-taking ceremony.

Sukhjinder Randhawa and OP Soni took oath as Deputy Chief Ministers.

Both the deputy CMs are from the Majha region of Punjab. While Randhawa is an MLA from the border town of Dera Baba Nanak, Soni represents Amritsar Central.

The new chief minister of Punjab has been a CLP member and Leader of Opposition in the previous SAD-BJP government.

Channi’s name was finalised after Amarinder Singh had resigned in a dramatic move on Saturday stating ‘he felt humiliated’ by the Congress party being back stabbed by his own colleagues led by Navjot Singh Siddhu.

And on Monday, within minutes of swearing-in of a new CM, the former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Sunil Jakhar tweeted his anguish targeting Congress high command and Navjot Singh Sidhu saying situation in Congress’s Punjab unit is “baffling”.

Sunil Jakhar was reacting to Congress leader Harish Rawat’s statement that the party will be fighting the upcoming assembly polls under Sidhu’s leadership.

Jakhar tweeted, “On the swearing-in day of @Charnjit_channi as Chief Minister, Mr Rawats’s statement that “elections will be fought under Sidhu”, is baffling. It’s likely to undermine CM’s authority but also negate the very ‘raison d’être’ of his selection for this position.”

For journalists on Punjab beat, the assignment just got top billing.