The Congress on Sunday named a Dalit face of the party and third-time legislator from Chamkaur Sahib constituency, Charanjit Singh Channi (58) as the new Chief Minister of Punjab.

Confirming the decision, Congress general secretary Harish Rawat said in a tweet, “It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab.”

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It gives me immense pleasure to announce that Sh. #CharanjitSinghChanni has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the Congress Legislature Party of Punjab.@INCIndia @RahulGandhi @INCPunjab pic.twitter.com/iboTOvavPd

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— Harish Rawat (@harishrawatcmuk) September 19, 2021

Following the decision, Channi met the Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhawan and staked a claim to form the government. The oath taking ceremony will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday.

Channi was the technical education and industrial training, tourism and cultural affairs, employment generation minister in the Captain Amarinder Singh government. He was one of the four ministers who had openly revolted against Amarinder Singh.

Previously, Channi was the leader of Opposition in the Assembly from 2015 to 2016. He belongs to the Ramdasia Sikh community. Channi’s spectacular rise in politics started as a president of the Kharar municipal council 2002. He contested the 2007 Assembly polls from the Chamkaur Sahib constituency as a Congress rebel and won as an Independent from this reserved constituency.

In 2012, he joined the Congress and won the seat. In 2016, he was made the leader of Opposition in Punjab Assembly against the wishes of Captain Amarinder Singh. Channi enjoys faith of the Congress high command and he is seen as a choice of the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.

Channi will be the first CM of the Dalit community in the state. Dalits make up an estimated 31.9 per cent of Punjab’s overall population. Besides this, backward classes constitute 18 per cent of Punjab’s population.

The Congress move to name Channi as the new Punjab CM is being seen an attempt to woo the Dalit vote bank in the state ahead of 2022 Assembly polls. This move is expected to help the Congress win support of the Dalits  in 2022 Assembly polls which will be a contest between Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and the Aam Aadmi Party.

All political parties are wooing Dalits in Punjab.After severing ties with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has formed alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in bid to consolidate its position in the Doaba region, the Dalit heartland of Punjab, which has 23 Assembly seats. The SAD has also promised deputy CM’s post for a Dalit.

The AAP has given the post of the Leader of Opposition to a Dalit, Harpal Singh Cheema and promised the deputy CM’s post to the community member after forming the government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party too has been saying that whoever gets the Dalit votes will win the next election in Punjab. While a prominent Dalit face in Punjab’s Doaba region, Som Parkash, is the Union minister of state for commerce and industry in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, another Dalit face Vijay Sampla was appointed as the chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes with the rank of a Union minister.