Congress leaders Om Prakash Soni and Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa were on Monday sworn in as the two Deputy Chief Ministers of Punjab at the Governor’s House in capital Chandigarh. The two leaders took oath shortly after Charanjit Singh Channi was sworn-in as the new Chief Minister. 

While Randhawa‘s selection for the post was confirmed earlier, there was much speculation over who would be named the other deputy CM, with a few other names – including Cabinet Minister Brahm Mohindra – doing the rounds. 

However, Soni‘s confirmation for the post came moments before he was sworn-in, capping a frenzied day of reshuffling for the Congress in Punjab. CM Channi’s cabinet is yet to be appointed. 

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Meanwhile, Channi became the first Dalit leader to be named Chief Minister of Punjab. The Congress confirmed Sunday he will replace the outgoing Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned a day prior following months of bitter infighting with the party’s state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu.  

“It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab,” AICC general secretary Harish Rawat tweeted to confirm Channi’s appointment.

Governor Banwarlal Purohit administered Channi’s oath at the Raj Bhawan in Chandigarh in Punjabi. Among the prominent leaders present at the ceremony were former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and the party’s state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. 

Former CM Amarinder Singh was not present on the occassion. 

Channi’s appointment comes barely six months ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state, with the onus now on the 58-year-old to play the Dalit card and sway the approximately 30% population in the state, comprising both Hindus and Sikhs, in that community. 

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Amarinder Singh was nudged into quitting ostensibly over his “failure” to fulfil the promises made by the party in the 2017 assembly polls, according to PTI.

It is not certain that new CM will be able to accomplish the task in the time available to him, observers say. And Sidhu, recently appointed as the party’s state unit president, could still be projected as the CM candidate as the elections near.