Internet users have been taking the new Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh for a singer. Was he really a singer before he joined politics though? Here’s everything to know about the rumours doing rounds on the Internet.

A photograph of a young man with coloured hair and earrings has gone viral on social media with people claiming the man is Charanjit Singh Channi and that the photograph dates back to his early days as a Punjabi singer before he joined politics. The image has “Singer Charanjit Channi” and “Tere Honge Chandriye Phere” printed on it. 

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Facebook users have been sharing the image with captions like, “Meet the current CM of Punjab”, “Old pic of new CM of Punjab” and “New CM of Punjab, memories of youth”.

However, on further research on the web, it was found that the picture is of the Punjab CM’s namesake who was a singer. The image that went viral is of the cover of singer Charanjit Channi’s 2004 Punjabi album “Tere Honge Chandriye Phere” recorded by Anand Music. 

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If one searches for keywords “Tere Honge Chandriye Phere” and “Charanjit Channi”, they’ll find the same song along with many other Punjabi songs uploaded by “Anand Music” on YouTube. 

The spokesperson of Anand Music confirmed to India Today that the image is of their album “Tere Honge Chandriye Phere”, which was sung by Charanjit. The album was released on January 13, 2004.

Furthermore, Charanjit’s son Karandeep told them that the viral image is from his father’s album “Tere Honge Chandriye Phere”. Charanjit, residing currently in Philippines, also gave his statement and said, “I cannot remember the exact year, but this is the picture of my album Tere Honge Chandriye Phere.”

Punjab’s new Chief Minister Charanjit Channi was born in Chamkaur Sahib in 1963, while the singer Charanjit Channi was born in Shahkot in Jalandhar district.