'Punjab requires a CM who has solutions to Punjab's challenges, capacity to take tough decisions. Punjab needs serious people whose politics is not Social Engineering, Entertainment, Freebies and not regime favourites rejected by people in successive elections,' Tewari said on Twitter.
"We had asked them (PMO) to discontinue the visit due to bad weather conditions and protests. We had no information of his (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) sudden route change. There was no security lapse during the PM visit," Channi said at a press conference.
"Making a person belonging to Dalit caste as the chief minister of Punjab is nothing but an election stunt. I have come to know through the media today that assembly elections in Punjab will be fought under a non-Dalit leader and not under Channi," Mayawati told newspersons in Lucknow
Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann too questioned separately Gandhi's description of Channi as belonging to 'gareeb ghar', asking 'from which angle, is he poor'.
Punjab Police detained several farmer leaders, including Sarwan Singh Pandher and Jagjit Singh Dallewal, while they were returning from a meeting with a central delegation in Chandigarh. The police also began evicting protesting farmers from the Shambhu and Khanauri border points, which have been closed for over a year. The action comes amid concerns from industrialists in Punjab over the prolonged closure of the border points, which they say has resulted in heavy losses. The meeting between the farmer leaders and the central delegation, led by Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, was inconclusive, but the next meeting is scheduled for May 4.
Amarinder, 75, was sworn in as the state's 26th chief minister along with nine ministers, including Navjot Singh Sidhu.
Congress leader Sukhjinder Randhawa and Brahm Mohindra will be two deputies to Punjab's Chief Minister-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, said party leader Pawan Kumar Bansal.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday demanded that Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa reveal the source of his claim that 50 bombs had reached the state, questioning if he had direct links with Pakistan. Bajwa, who had made the statement in a TV interview, said he cooperated with police but refused to divulge his sources. The police visited Bajwa's residence and questioned him about his statement. Mann also sought a clarification from the Congress party, saying the government will take strict action if Bajwa's statement was meant only to "create panic."
Sidhu and Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi are the main contenders for the chief ministerial candidate. Both have assured Gandhi they will stand by the party's decision.
Mann made the claim while addressing a gathering after laying foundation stones for setting up tehsil complexes at Dirba and Cheema in Sangrur.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday allocated portfolios to the new ministers, keeping 14 departments with himself and giving home affairs to deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and health to other deputy O P Soni.
Navjot Sidhu has been given power and new and renewable energy sources, and his tourism and cultural affairs portfolio has been given to Charanjit Singh Channi.
Some residents of village Nizampur claimed that the man disrespected the Nishan Sahib and tried to run away but was caught after a chase.
He had along with three other ministers rebelled against Amarinder Singh while choosing to side with the camp of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.
The decision was reached after an over two-hour meeting at the Punjab Congress Bhavan between chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi and Sidhu, who had resigned from the post of the state party chief on Tuesday.
Channi made the remark after his brother said he will contest as an independent from the Bassi Pathana assembly seat against the sitting Congress MLA.
'This individual's constant endeavour at self-glorification, even at the cost of both the government and the party, has the potential to subvert whatever genuine efforts that Channi has been making since he became CM.'
Sidhu further said that electing a good chief minister is only in the hands of the voters of Punjab.
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.
After dancing the Bhangra with college kids, telling his security detail to vamoose so he could schmooze with the Janata and clambering up an electricity poll to fix erratic power supply, Charanjit Singh Channi, clearly a man of the people, donned a new avatar on Sunday, October 31, 2021.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
The CM's statement came on a day state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu once again sought the replacement of Punjab's police chief and advocate general.
The four ministers -- Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Charanjit Singh Channi -- and around two dozen legislators met in Chandigarh at the residence of Bajwa on Tuesday.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
The party also promised to end the mafia raj by creating corporations for the sale of liquor and sand mining.
The ED on Wednesday said it has seized cash amounting to over Rs 10 crore, including about Rs 8 crore from a relative of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, during raids conducted in connection with an anti-money laundering investigation against illegal sand-mining operations in the poll-bound state.
The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress of repeatedly supplying "oxygen" to Pakistan, and slammed the opposition party for its leader Charanjit Singh Channi's remarks questioning the veracity of Balakot air strikes after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack. BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra alleged that the Congress is full of pro-Pakistan leaders who make statements against India's interests, and mocked the party for its letter that had advised its functionaries to toe the official line on the issue. Patra also criticized other Congress leaders for their comments on the Pulwama and Pahalgam terror attacks, accusing them of lowering the morale of the armed forces. He further slammed the Congress for claiming credit for the government's announcement of the caste census and said the party never carried out the exercise during its over 60-year stint in power.
His tweet pressing the Charanjit Singh Channi-led government to change the director general of police and state's advocate general appears to indicate that he continues to remain unhappy over certain key appointments.
The explosion took place in the wash room of the second floor of the court complex, said police.
Channi also said the party is supreme and the government follows the party's ideology.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on the weekend's whirlwind political developments in Punjab.
Unemployment, delivery of justice in desecration cases, illegal sand mining and drug menace are likely to be key issues in the Punjab assembly elections.
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 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.
Channi claimed that the permission given to his chopper to fly to Hoshiarpur from Chandigarh was cancelled.
'If the Congress wants to keep the ship afloat, it will have to bury the differences.'
'Had the Congress made Sidhu its CM face, they would have won 80 out of 117 seats.'
Aam Aadmi Party's Ferozepur Rural candidate Amandeep Ashu Banger on Monday quit the party and joined the ruling Congress in Punjab, alleging that Arvind Kejriwal's outfit runs like a "multinational company" with only Delhi leaders calling the shots.
"The Punjab government is running just like the Modi government. Doing headline management to hide its failure. After winning on the slogan of bringing change, it is doing politics of revenge," he also said in a tweet.
Sidhu has been pushing for the replacement of Deol, who had represented former Punjab Director General of Police Sumedh Singh Saini in cases related to the 2015 desecration incidents and police firing on protesters.
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