Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as the chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dalit to hold the top post in the state.
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.
Jakhar, the former president of Punjab Congress, said the party had never named its CM face adding that it was only an exception that the Congress high command had declared Captain Amarinder Singh as the chief ministerial candidate in the run-up to the 2017 state assembly polls.
Sources said Sidhu's resignation has not been received by the party and its leadership will take a call once it reaches them.
Sidhu and Amarinder Singh has been at loggerheads for the past some time, with the Amritsar (East) MLA recently attacking the CM over the desecration cases.
Despite a warning issued to him by the Congress, former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot sat on a daylong fast at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur on Tuesday, demanding action in cases of alleged corruption related to the previous Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state led by Vasundhara Raje.
Amid the ongoing rift in the Punjab Congress unit, the All India Congress Committee (AICC) has called a meeting of the state's Congress Legislative Party.
I don't want to hide that some questions are still being resolved, Rawat said.
In an apparent attack on Gehlot, Pilot said one's upbringing should be such that he gives respect to others, adding that respect comes back when it is given.
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.
The new faces in the Channi ministry are Randeep Singh Nabha, Raj Kumar Verka, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Pargat Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring and Gurkirat Singh Kotli.
Pargat Singh, Raj Kumar Verka, Gurkirat Singh Kotli, Sangat Singh Gilzian, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Kuljit Nagra and Rana Gurjit Singh are likely to be included in the cabinet, according to the sources.
'Change was very much needed for the Congress to win the 2022 assembly elections.'
Controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Mussewala, who joined the Congress sometime ago will contest from Mansa and actor Sonu Sood's sister Malvika Sood from Moga.
About 20 Punjab Congress leaders met in Ludhiana on Tuesday, with some of them batting for a key role for Navjot Singh Sidhu, the former state party unit chief who was among the participants.
Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi was defeated by Aam Aadmi Party's first-timer and an eye surgeon from Bhadaur and Chamkaur Sahib seats, respectively.
A few former MLAs, considered to be his loyalists and a few supporters, turned up at Sidhu's residence in Patiala Friday morning to extend moral support to him.
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.
Expressing concerns over another round of crisis in the Punjab unit of Congress, Anandpur Sahib MP Manish Tewari said that he is 'extremely distressed' after Navjot Singh Sidhu's resignation as party's state unit chief and claimed that the only people who are happy with what is going on in the border state is the 'deep state of Pakistan.'
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.
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.
There is no threat to the Amarinder Singh-led government in Punjab and the party's victory prospects for the upcoming assembly elections, Rawat said.
The Congress picked Charanjit Singh Channi as the next chief minister of Punjab, making him the first Dailt to hold the post in the state, a day after Amarinder Singh resigned following a bitter power tussle in the party.
Three of the 23 MLAs are cabinet ministers. Another minister who had tested positive earlier has recovered. The chief minister gave the number during a video conference with Congress president Sonia Gandhi, who had held a virtual meeting with CMs of opposition-ruled states to discuss a range of issues faced by them.
The Union government had recently amended the BSF Act to authorise the border guarding force to undertake search, seizure and arrest within a 50 km stretch, up from the existing 15 km, from the international border in Punjab, West Bengal and Assam.
The 58-year-old surrendered shortly after 4 pm, and was taken for the mandatory medical examination, conducted at the Mata Kaushalya Hospital.
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.
With Charanjit Channi's selection as Punjab CM, the Congress has got its opponents thinking seriously about their next move, notes Sanjeev Nayyar.
Any decision taken by Congress president Sonia Gandhi will be acceptable to all, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said on Saturday as talk of Navjot Singh Sidhu being appointed chief of the party's state unit despite his oft-stated reservations gathered force.
The mortal remains of Lakhbir Singh were cremated at his native village in Punjab's Tarn Taran amid tight security in the presence of his family members. No Sikh priest was present to perform Ardas (Sikh religious prayer) and no one from his village, Cheema Kalan, attended the last rites.
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.
If the BJP wants to recruit him, it needs to make the supreme sacrifice -- of rolling back the three farm laws, because without that, Amarinder Singh is unlikely to cross over.
Several people were feared trapped under the debris, police said, adding that the rescue operation was underway.
'If the Congress wants to keep the ship afloat, it will have to bury the differences.'
The Sikhs, especially in Punjab, are already angry and frustrated, cautions Shekhar Gupta.
This hill town has been in grip of violence since Thursday after a fight between residents of Shillong's Punjabi Line area and Khasi drivers of state-run buses.
As tight security measures were put in place across Punjab, officials on Sunday said that checking of vehicles has been intensified at various places while paramilitary along with state police force has been deployed in Kotkapura, where Bittu's body was brought from Nabha in the morning.
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.
