By Lata
Chandigarh: Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi took oath as the first Dalit chief minister of Punjab at Raj Bhavan today. He is the first chief minister from the Scheduled Caste (SC) community. Sukhvinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni took oath as the new Deputy Chief Ministers.
After his oath ceremony, Charanjit Singh Channi ordered a major administrative reshuffle. Senior IAS officer Hussan Lal has been appointed as Principal Secretary to the chief minister replacing Tejveer Singh. Rahul Tiwari has been appointed as Special Principal Secretary in place of Gurkeerat Kirpal Singh.
The Congress has made its move before the assembly election to be held early next year. Dalits constitute 32 per cent of Punjab’s population and the Congress Party pins its hopes on them by appointing the first dalit CM in the state. It is noteworthy that in the 2017 assembly elections, a major share of the Dalit vote was cornered by the political greenhorn, the Aam Aadmi Party. This time also the Dalit vote bank was likely to be divided between the AAP and Shiromani Akali Dal. But after the historic move, Congress is hoping that giving the state its first Dalit CM will help shift the votes in its favor in the 34 reserved seats in the 117-seat assembly.
The new CM of Punjab, Channi also holds the position of Technical Education Minister of Punjab. He is a three-time MLA from Chamkaur Saheb Constituency. Earlier, he was also the leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly from 2015 to 2016 and a minister in Amarinder Singh’s government in 2017.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who attended the swearing-in ceremony, congratulated the new CM and tweeted, “Congratulations to Shri Charanjit Singh Channi Ji for the new responsibility. We must continue to fulfill the promises made to the people of Punjab. Their trust is of paramount importance.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party though dug up an old harassment case against Channi, and its leader Amit Malviya took to his twitter handle, claiming: “Congress’s CM pick Charanjit Channi faces action in a 3-year-old metoo case. He had allegedly sent an inappropriate text to a woman IAS officer in 2018. It was covered up but the case resurfaced when Punjab Women’s Commission sent notice. Well, done, Rahul.” The reference that Malviya, the head of BJP’s IT cell, made in his tweet was of a case of 2018, when a woman IAS officer had accused Channi of sending her an inappropriate message. However, the issue was sorted out with Channi clarifying that the purported message was inadvertently sent on the IAS officer’s phone. There matter was apparently resolved thereafter.
Also read: Captain Amarinder Singh forced to resign from Punjab CM post
The ousted Congress CM Amarinder Singh, who skipped Channa’s oath ceremony, and whose next moves are being watched with much interest in the political circles, expressed his best wishes to Channi and hoped he would be able to keep the state safe and protect the people from the growing security threat from across the international border.
Giving a curious turn to the entire political developments within the Congress, that also smacked of the existing faction wars within the party, was a reported controversial statement by Punjab Congress in-charge Harish Rawat, hours before the swearing-in ceremony of Channi, that the upcoming state assembly elections will be fought under Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu who is ‘very popular’.
Rawat’s statement was immediately seized by the Shiromani Akali Dal, which termed it as an insult to the Dalits. Dubbing Channi as a “dummy” chief minister, the SAD spokesperson, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, took to his twitter handle to come down heavily on the Congress for treating Dalits as pawns, charging that the Congress didn’t consider the dalits worthy of respect and stature.
Incidentally, Sidhu, had last night termed Channi’s selection as “historic”, since Punjab was getting its first Dalit CM. “…Will be written with Golden letters in History. A tribute to the spirit of the Constitution and the Congress !! Congratulations @CHARANJITCHANNI,” he had tweeted.
The decision to appoint Channi as CM last night was made after extensive discussions between the Congress High Command and the party’s state unit after the unceremonious exit of Amarinder Singh as CM.
