Bringing a halt to all speculations, Charanjit Singh Channi was declared as the leader of Punjab Congress Legislative Party (CLP) on Sunday (September 19).

Channi, the successor of  Captian Amarinder Singh, will be the first Dalit Chief Minister of Punjab. 

Channi was the Technical Educational and Industrial Training Minister in the outgoing Amarinder Singh Cabinet. He is a three-time MLA from Chamkaur Sahib constituency. 

The Congress MLA was also a hard critic of  Singh for some time, IANS reported. Channi served as the Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly during the Parkash Singh Badal-led Akali-BJP government from 2015 to 2016. 

Announcing the new CM, Harish Rawat, Congress' Punjab-in charge, tweeted, "It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Charanjit Singh Channi has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab."

As per the news agency, Channi is meeting Governor Banwarilal Purohit to stake claim to form the new government in Punjab. 

Channi's name as the next Punjab CM came a few hours after reports of another outgoing minister - Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa replacing Captain were rife. 

(With inputs from agencies)