Punjab minister Charanjit Singh Channi is declared as the new chief minister of Punjab. Congress leader Harish Rawat took to Twitter to make the announcement.
It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab.@INCIndia @RahulGandhi @INCPunjab pic.twitter.com/iboTOvavPd
— Harish Rawat (@harishrawatcmuk) September 19, 2021
Prior to him, there were reports of Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa being selected the new chief minister of Punjab. Navjot Singh Sidhu and Ambika Soni were also frontrunners in the race to become the chief minister of Punjab after the sudden resignation of Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday.
In October 2018, Channi was accused of sending inappropriate messages to a woman IAS officer. The matter was ‘resolved’ to the woman officer’s satisfaction, reports said. The woman officer had alleged Channi had sent her multiple messages to which she had objected but he continued to send them. When one message was sent late at night, she had decided to object and escalate the matter. Turns out he had sent an Urdu couplet to the woman officer ‘by mistake’ which she objected to. He, however, later apologised for the same.
Channi is an MLA from Chamkaur Sahib Assembly constituency.
Amarinder Singh had on Saturday said that he felt humiliated by the manner in which he has been treated by the Congress party and resigned as Punjab CM. His resignation came after months of dispute with the Congress high command over the greater influence of Navjot Singh Sidhu within the party.
