The Congress naming Channi, a Dalit face who comes from the Rupnagar district in the state's Malwa belt, assumes significance as Punjab has a population of nearly 32 per cent from the community.
'His success confirms that the infirm 132-year-old party can still get to its feet if it allows regional leaders to come to the fore,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
Uttam Ghosh offers his take on Sidhu's latest drama.
Congress leaders are now in a "wait and watch" mode over the possible ripple effect of Punjab developments in faction-ridden Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the only two states other than Punjab where the party is in power on its own.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The Congress had last month written to Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging "security breaches" during the Yatra in the national capital and demanded immediate steps to ensure the security of Gandhi and others taking part in the yatra.
He said that to concentrate on the upcoming polls in Uttarakhand, it had been on his mind to seek to be relieved of the responsibility of the party's Punjab affairs in-charge.
'Because if a Dalit is made the chief minister, they ask who is taking the decisions in the Congress?'
Police scoured places of worship in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain and Khandwa in their hunt for the third shooter wanted for Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique's killing.
Reacting to the results, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that in the by-elections held on 13 seats in seven states, the people of the country have given their support to the INDIA bloc.
The protest was held on the university campus located at Ludhiana-Chandigarh road past midnight.
Wooing voters for his party candidate in the Moga assemby byelection, Shiromani Akali Dal patriach and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday regaled the crowds with his wit and sarcasm mainly directed at his political opponents.
Ahead of the Punjab assembly polls, former Army chief Gen Joginder Jaswant Singh on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chandigarh in the presence of the party leadership, including Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat.
Chouhan and Raje were overlooked by the BJP for the chief minister posts in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan respectively despite ensuring the party's return to power in the assembly polls held recently.
Besides Kejriwal, no other chief minister will be present in the oath-taking ceremony, according to AAP sources.
The Akali Dal-BJP alliance won on four seats and the AAP bagged one.
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.
Sidhu's joining may come in the next few days which are considered auspicious.
On the announcement of his gurantees, Kejriwal said, "I have not discussed with my INDIA bloc partners about this. I will press upon my INDIA bloc partners to fulfill these guarantees."
The Haryana assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution seeking the completion of the SYL canal and the transfer of Hindi-speaking areas from Punjab, while denouncing the neighbouring state for staking its claim over Chandigarh.
'The victory is an expression of agrarian distress and social turmoil.'
The Aam Aadmi Party dismissed the allegation as "baseless" and claimed it was "another conspiracy hatched by the BJP" to tarnish AAP's image ahead of voting for Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and Punjab.
The Punjab police on Wednesday said it will question jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi after bringing him to the state in connection with the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.
The Opposition on Monday targeted Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging that he was deplaned from a Delhi-bound flight at the Frankfurt airport as he was 'drunk', a charge denied by the ruling AAP as baseless.
Ten ministers were inducted into the Mann-led cabinet on Saturday.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday said the session of the state assembly will be summoned on September 27.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said the party will go into the Punjab assembly polls with a CM face and the decision on it will be taken soon after consulting party workers.
As many as eight exit polls -- ABP News-CVoter, ETG Research, India Today- Axis My India, India TV-CNX, Zee News-DESIGNBOXED, India News, News 24 Today's Chanakya and Republic P-MARQ -- predicted 240-plus seats for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, earmarking an average seat of the party with its allies in the state at 241 out of the total of 403 seats.
Who will replace Shah in the BCCI since neither he himself nor the people close to him have yet divulged his immediate plans.
FHe is the only one among 17 ministers from the outgoing council of ministers who lost the Lok Sabha polls to be reappointed minister.
Sidhu in his affidavit, filed along with the nomination papers, declared total assets worth Rs 44.63 crore.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
The defeat in the elections has put a question mark on the five-time MP and former Union minister's political future.
'Several leaders leaving the party in quick succession tell us that something is very wrong with the oldest party'
Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Manoj Sonkar on Tuesday defeated Aam Aadmi Party's Kuldeep Kumar to win the post of mayor in the Chandigarh mayoral polls.
Punjab faces many mortal threats. For most of these the people of Punjab are themselves responsible. And unless they take a brutal hard look within, their future generations have to be resigned to continue living with this constant slide, warns Shekhar Gupta.
Shiromani Akali Dal-Amritsar's Simranjit Singh Mann on Sunday won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat after defeating his nearest rival, Aam Aadmi Party's Gurmail Singh, by a margin of 5,822 votes.
The chief minister said his "fault" was providing good education to children, building good schools for them, opening Mohalla Clinics and arranging for free medicines for people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday claimed that the Congress and Samajwadi Party will run a bulldozer over the Ram temple if elected to power, and asked them to take 'tuition' from Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath 'where to run bulldozers'.
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party leaders met the governor in Chandigarh on Thursday, demanding the dismissal of the state's home minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and the police chief over the security breach during the prime minister's visit to Punjab.
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