A day after Captain Amarinder Singh resigned, ending speculation the Congress today named Charanjit Singh Channi as the new Chief Minister of Punjab. Senior party leader Harish Rawat confirmed the development 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,” Rawat tweeted.

According to ANI, the CM-designate has reached Governor's house in Chandigarh.

“Captain Amarinder Singh, who resigned as Punjab CM yesterday extends his wishes to new CM-designate Charanjit Singh Channi, tweets "I hope he’s able to keep the border state of Punjab safe and protect our people from the growing security threat from across the border," ANI tweeted.

According to an Indian Express report, he would be the first Dalit CM of

Punjab. Channi, three-time MLA from Chamkaur Sahib, was a Cabinet minister and held portfolio of Technical Education and Industrial Training, among others.

He was also the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly during the SAD-BJP regime.

Besides Navjot Singh Sidhu, among the names that were doing the rounds as Amarinder Singh's successor included former PCC chiefs Sunil Jakhar and Pratap Bajwa and state ministers Sukhjinder Randhawa, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria and Tript Rajinder Bajwa.

Amarinder Singh resigned on Saturday as chief minister of Punjab with less than five months to go for the Assembly polls after a bitter power struggle with state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu. Singh said he felt "humiliated" over the way the party handled the protracted crisis.

Singh put in his papers after speaking to party president Sonia Gandhi and shortly before a crucial meeting of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in Chandigarh in the evening. He later launched a no-holds-barred attack against Sidhu, describing his bete noire, a cricketer-turned-politician, as a "total disaster".