Earlier in the day, Channi had attended a political event in Amritsar city’s Jora Phatak area, where he broke his security cordon to lend an ear to protesting lower-rung government health workers. On November 28, he had taken children on an impromptu helicopter ride while visiting his home in Morinda in Ropar district.
To many, these are scenes not seen in Punjab in a long, long time. They see 58-year-old Channi—the state’s first Dalit chief minister—as a striking contrast to his predecessor Captain Amarinder Singh. Amarinder, the titular maharaja of Patiala, was often criticised for being a reclusive CM, who mostly ran his government from his farmhouse near Chandigarh. Channi, on the other hand, is projecting himself as a hands-on administrator who is always available to his people.
Amarinder may have quit the Congress to launch his own outfit after being unceremoniously removed as CM, but he has several loyalists in the party who could still give Channi grief. Aware of the threat, the new chief minister, who enjoys Rahul Gandhi’s backing, has been systematically going after them. One such loyalist, Patiala mayor Sanjeev Sharma Bittu, lost the vote of the majority on November 25 and was also suspended. This followed the removal of city improvement trust chiefs in Amritsar, Batala and Ludhiana. Amarinder’s wife and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur has been served notice for “anti-party” activities even as the Congress is keeping an eye on other MPs from the Captain’s camp—G.S. Aujla, Mohammad Sadique, Manish Tewari and Santokh Singh Chaudhary.
This story is from the December 20, 2021 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 20, 2021 edition of India Today.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Grand Young Master
Seventeen-yearold D. Gukesh has become the youngest player to win the Candidates chess tournament
SPORTING SPIRIT
BADMINTON PLAYER ASHWINI PONNAPPA, 34, IS OFF TO HER THIRD OLYMPICS, THIS TIME WITH A NEW PARTNER, TANISHA CRASTO
PORTRAITS OF A PEOPLE
Etchings by the colonial Flemish artist F. Baltazard Solvyns are getting a new lease of life in an exhibition at the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai
Centennial Man
A seminal exhibition of K.G. Subramanyan's works in his birth centenary year at Emami Art, Kolkata takes an imaginative and immersive curatorial approach
Rhythms of Nature
ARTIST AND MUSIC COMPOSER GINGGER SHANKAR'S LATEST SINGLE COMBINES SOUTH INDIAN MUSIC WITH INUIT THROAT SINGING
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
Kashmiri musician Faheem Abdullah’s debut album Lost; Found is a collaborative effort
FOUND IN TRANSLATION
With its excellent translations, Songs of Tagore makes Rabindrasangit accessible to the non-Bengali reader
Of Freedom and Friendship
T.C.A. RAGHAVAN'S CIRCLES OF FREEDOM FOLLOWS THREE YOUNG MUSLIMS DRAWN INTO THE FREEDOM STRUGGLE
The Razor's Edge
Salman Rushdie's Knife is an eloquent, first-person account of the horrific attack on him. It's also a love story
THE LAST-MILE PUSH
The India Today Smart Money Financial Summit had top experts discussing how technology could be leveraged to widen the reach of personal finance tools