Charanjit Singh Channi is new Punjab Chief Minister

Chandigarh, Sep 19: Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi to be new Punjab Chief Minister, ending three days of high drama in the poll-bound state that was triggered by Captain Amarinder Singh's resignation.

"It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Shri Charanjit Singh Channi has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab," Harish Rawat tweeted.

Channi's selection assumes significance as the dissension-riven Congress faces the Assembly polls in less than five months.

The BJP had earlier announced that if voted to power in Punjab, it will make a Dalit the chief minister, while the SAD, which is fighting the coming polls in alliance with the BSP, had said that its Deputy Chief Minister would be from the Dalit community.

Channi met the Punjab Governor and staked claim to form government, sources said, adding that Rawat and the party's central observers Ajay Maken and Harish Chaudhary accompanied him.

The 79-year-old Amarinder Singh, one of the Congress'' powerful regional satraps, had put in his papers after speaking to the Congress president and shortly before a crucial meeting of the CLP here on Saturday evening.

He had later launched a no-holds-barred attack against Sidhu, describing his bete noire, a cricketer-turned-politician, as a "total disaster".

Early in the day, hectic talks were held to finalise the name of new leader of the CLP, a day after Amarinder Singh resigned as the chief minister amid a bitter power tussle with Sidhu. Rawat, Maken and Harish Chaudhary who have been camping at a hotel here held discussions with the MLAs and took their feedback.