Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
"The two (the Pradesh Congress Committee chief and the chief minister) consult each other, but the final decision is of Channi, who is the chief minister, not Sidhu," the former chief minister told reporters at the Chandigarh airport.
The SC has agreed to re-examine the sentence awarded by it to the cricketer turned politician in a 30-year-old road rage case.
Channi also said the party is supreme and the government follows the party's ideology.
Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 10 ministers at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh.
'Sidhu's suggestions regarding formation of the new government were completely ignored, so he stepped down.' 'Channi's government is walking on the same path as Amarinder Singh's.'
The Congress' top leadership realises the former cricketer's utility and mass appeal. His oratory skills and ability to whip up mass hysteria in election rallies is acknowledged as an asset
The Lakhimpur violence, in which the son of senior BJP leader and Union minister of state Ajay Mishra Teni are accused of trampling four protesting farmers to death, has opened another front for the CM to deal with, after the mysterious death of Akhara Parishad president Mahant Narendra Giri last month and the death of a Kanpur-based trader in Gorakhpur recently.
On Saturday, Amarinder Singh had accepted Sidhu's "one-line" resignation and forwarded it to Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore who conveyed his acceptance of the same.
Unveiling his party's "Punjab model" ahead of assembly polls, Aam Aadmi Party's national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday promised justice in sacrilege cases, jobs to youth, corruption-free governance, and asserted that people want to bring his party to power to break the friendly "partnership" between the Badals and the Congress.
In what is being seen as a veiled jibe at Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu, CM Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday asked policemen not to bother about who says what and said criminals wet their pants on seeing them.
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The crucial meetings come amid talks of the Congress leadership making efforts to bring all leaders together ahead of next year's Punjab Assembly polls and present a united face of the party.
Amarinder Singh met Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and is learnt to have discussed the issue.
SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia, facing arrest in an NDPS case, involving sale, purchase and manufacturing of drugs among other offences, was on Monday granted anticipatory bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
Cricketer-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said despite being part of ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP alliance in Punjab, he feels he is in the opposition as several developmental works in his constituency have been stalled.
Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi had convened an emergency meeting of newly reconstituted Council of Ministers in view of the 'Bharat Bandh' call given by the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) to protest against the three agri laws, an official statement said after the cabinet meeting.
'Let the Congress high command decide who will replace Captain Amarinder because they are far wiser than I am.'
On his meeting with General Bajwa, the Congress leader said, "On his meeting with General Bajwa, Sidhu said, "I again want to make it clear that this meeting took place in Islamabad at a time when Gen Bajwa reached the venue of swearing-in ceremony." "He met me with enthusiasm after seeing me sitting in the first row. Immediately, he told me that they were making efforts to open the corridor from India's Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib, which is about 3 to 3.5 km in Pakistan, to facilitate the pilgrims to pay obeisance on the occasion of 550th 'Prakash Diwas' of Guru Nanak Dev ji."
Sidhu had on Friday met Delhi Chief Minister and AAP's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal at the latter's residence, but the party remained tight lipped on what transpired at the meeting.
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A case against Majithia under various sections of the NDPS Act was registered on the basis of a 2018 status report of probe into the drug racket in the state.
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'It will be a mistake to imagine that Sidhu will be a permanent feature of the Congress' Punjab scene,' says Amulya Ganguli.
Sudhir Kumar Ojha from Muzaffarpur, an advocate known for his penchant to file cases against the high and mighty, has fired a legal salvo at the irrepressible cricketer-turned-politician.
In the past, Sidhu has slammed Kejriwal calling him a dramebaaz. What would he say today now that he's left the BJP to join the AAP.
'It is a great feeling, to be honest. I never thought I would play so many Test matches for India'
With its landslide victory in Punjab assembly polls, the Aam Aadmi Party has achieved a major milestone in its journey so far and emerged as an alternative in the national politics.
The Congress on Sunday named Baghel, a five-time MLA from Patan, to head the state Congress Legislature Party. Baghel, who took charge as Congress state president Congress after the 2013 assembly polls, was credited for the massive victory of the party in the recent assembly polls where Congress won 68 seats in the 90-member House.
Aam Aadmi Party calls Bhagwant Mann its people's choice for CM candidate in Punjab. Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff.com traces what makes Mann so indispensable for his party.
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With less than a month left for campaigning to end in Amritsar, the Bharatiya Janata Party's candidate Arun Jaitley is still facing one question in almost all his interactions with media -- Will sitting MP Navjot Singh Sidhu canvass for him?
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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday defended cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu's prolong absence from party affairs for the past few months, saying the Amritsar member of Parliament is still the "favourite candidate" for them.
Imran's uncle Jahangir Khan had played for Patiala, then captained by the Punjab CM's father.
"A hundred years ago, Britishers had called Bhagat Singh a terrorist and 100 years later, history is repeating when all these parties want to prove Bhagat Singh's follower (Kejriwal) as a terrorist, but people know the reality," he said.
The game intensified after Congress fielded Channi from a second seat and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia chose to take on Sidhu from the Amritsar East seat.
Navjot Singh Sidhu quit as the Punjab PCC chief, triggering other resignations and plunging the party into a fresh crisis just months ahead of the assembly elections.
'The Congress is trying to cover up their anti-incumbency by highlighting the Dalit CM factor.'
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