Charanjit Singh Channi takes oath as Punjab CM

Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi was on Monday sworn in as chief minister of Punjab Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and OP Soni both outgoing ministers in the previous Amarinder Singh cabinet were also administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Punjab GovernorThey will be designated as deputy chief ministers In his first remarks after being sworn in the 58yearold Channi asked the Centre to withdraw the three contentious farm laws Channi said his party stands firmly behind farmers agitating against the black farm laws Farmers in Punjab Uttar Pradesh and Haryana have been protesting against three contentious farm lawsSeveral rounds of meetings between the Centre and farmer leaders have ended in a deadlock The oathtaking ceremony which was scheduled to commence at 11 am was slightly delayed Rahul Gandhi was present at the ceremony Channi was administered oath by Governor Banwarilal Purohit at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan here He took the oath in PunjabiSources said that Sonis name as Deputy CM was cleared by the party shortly before the ceremony While Randhawa is a Jat Sikh Soni is a Hindu face as the Congress sought to balance caste equations with less than six months left for the Punjab Assembly polls Nearly 32 per cent of the states population counting both Sikhs and Hindus is from the scheduled caste communityIts biggest concentration is in the Doaba region Besides Rahul Gandhi prominent among those who were present at the event included AICC general secretary Harish Rawat party leader Ajay Maken former chief minister Rajinder Kaur Bhattal Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu and Manpreet Singh Badal Amarinder Singh who resigned as chief minister two days back was conspicuous by his absence Thanking the party leadership Channi told reporters here that the party has given a common person a great honourHe also described Rahul Gandhi as a revolutionary leader Channi said he will become the voice of the common people of Punjab and will always remain accessible to the people Together we have to make Punjab prosperous Punjab is primarily an agrarian state This government is profarmer he saidEarlier the name of Brahm Mohindra a senior minister in the previous Amarinder ministry was doing the rounds for the post of Deputy Chief Minister and AICC treasurer Pawan Kumar Bansal in a tweet had even congratulated Mohindra Channi was declared the Punjab Congress Legislative Party leader after Amarinder Singh was nudged into quitting ostensibly over his failure to fulfil the promises made by the party in the 2017 assembly pollsFulfilling the pending poll promises including action in the 2015 sacrilege and post sacrilege police firing incidents arrest of big fish involved in drug rackets and scrapping power purchase pacts will be the focus for Channi to accomplish before the assembly elections Channi is a threetime legislator from Chamkaur Sahib assembly constituency in Rupnagar districtHe had along with three other ministers rebelled against Amarinder Singh while choosing to side with the camp of state Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu On his predecessor Amarinder Singh Channi said he did good work as CM iquestHe is also known as protector of water rights He is our party leaderiquest he said The party high command has given an 18point programme and we are committed to it said Channi adding promises made will be fulfilledWe will ensure a transparent government he added While the 62yearold Randhawa is a threetime legislator and currently represents Dera Baba Nanak assembly constituency in Gurdaspur district the 64yearold Soni was holding the ministry of medical education and research in the Amarinder Singhled cabinet Hailing from Amritsar Soni is a fivetime legislator and currently represents the AmritsarCentral assembly seatAlso Read Charanjit Singh Channi to take oath as Punjab CM on September 20This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever