The suspense over the successor to Amarinder Singh ended on Sunday with Congress President Sonia Gandhi clearing the name of ‘Dalit‘ cabinet minister Charanjit Singh Channi as the next Punjab Chief Minister.

Channi, who was the Technical Educational and Industrial Training Minister in the Amarinder Singh, was, for quite some time, a hard critic of the Chief Minister. His appointment was announced by state party in charge Harish Rawat on Twitter.

“It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab”, Rawat said.

Channi was in the news in 2018 for a viral video where he was seen tossing a coin to decided appointment of a lecturer posting. This was criticized as demonstrative of a flippant, adhoc attitude by opponents. He has also been in controversy for illegally getting a road made in front of his house, and caused a stir when he was seen riding an elephant at his Mohali residence.

Channi was part of the group of four ministers — other three being Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa — who had raised the banner of revolt against Amarinder saying that he had failed to fulfill key poll promises.

It is learnt that the new-appointed leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) is meeting Governor Banwarilal Purohit to stake claim to form the new government. The 48-year-old Channi has also been Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during the Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali-BJP government.

Outgoing Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Sunday greeted Charanjit Singh Channi, who is going to be the next Chief Minister of the state.

“My best wishes to Charanjit Singh Channi. I hope he’s able to keep the border state of Punjab safe and protect our people from the growing security threat from across the border,” said Amarinder Singh in a tweet.

(With IANS inputs)