Chandigarh, February 26
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief, Capt Amarinder Singh, will be sworn in as the 21st Chief Minister of Punjab at Raj Bhavan here tomorrow as the All-India Congress Committee President, Ms Sonia Gandhi, picked him to head the government.

Earlier, the Congress Legislature Party unanimously resolved to authorise the party President to name the next Chief Minister.

The decision of the party President was conveyed to waiting newsmen by Mr Ahmed Patel. Three of the newly elected MLAs — Mr Surinder Singla, Mr Jagjit Singh and Mr Gurmeet Singh Sodhi — then went to Punjab Raj Bhavan to convey to the Governor, Lt-Gen J.F.R. Jacob (retd), the decision of the party to elect Capt Amarinder Singh the leader of its legislature wing.

The Governor has invited the Captain and his Council of Ministers to take the oath of office and secrecy tomorrow at Raj Bhavan at 11.30 a.m. Congress sources said that tomorrow only the Chief Minister would take the oath of office and immediately leave for the Union Capital to consult the party high command about the composition of his Council of Ministers. The Council, the sources said, would be “compact and representative”.

Three of the central party observers — Mr Patel, Mrs Ambika Soni and Mr Hari Prasad — accompanied by the treasurer of the All-India Congress Committee, Mr Moti Lal Vora, remained closeted with the new Congress legislators for more than three hours to take a decision on the CLP leader.

Also present at the meeting were some of the former Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chiefs, including Mrs Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Mr Mohinder Singh Gill, Mr Santokh Singh Randhawa and Mr Varinder Kataria, besides past and present party MPs, including Mrs Sukhbans Kaur Bhinder, Mr Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, Mrs Santosh Chaudhary, Mr Shamsher Singh Dulo, Mr Balbir Singh, Mr Charanjit Singh Channi, Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib and Mr H.S. Hanspal. Conspicuous by his absence was Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar, who was reportedly away to the Union Capital.

The visiting AICC team had earlier held a meeting in a city hotel before reaching Punjab Congress Bhavan in Sector 15 shortly after midday. A large enthusiastic crowd of Congress workers, district-level office-bearers and supporters of the newly elected MLAs besides office-bearers of various front organisations of the party had also assembled at the bhavan.

The Captain will be the 15th Congress Chief Minister of the state. He is also the first man from Patiala to head the state administration. The CLP meeting with the AICC observers started almost an hour behind schedule. The observers preferred to listen to each of the new legislators and ascertain their views on the leader of the CLP.