Political journey of Punjab Deputy CM OP Soni

In a big reshuffle in Punjab Congress, after Charanjit Singh Channi became the Chief Minister, Brahm Mahindra was denied the deputy chief ministership and, instead, the post was given to OP Soni.

Chandigarh: The last two days have been tumultuous times for the Punjab unit of the Congress. After Sukhjinder Randhawa was out of the chief minister race and was made Deputy Chief Minister, Brahm Mohindra also lost out on the deputy chief minister's post. Instead, Om Parkash Somi was made the second Deputy Chief Minister.

Soni was born in the year 1957 in Amritsar to Jagat Mitter Soni and Parem Soni. He is one of the big leaders of Congress in the Majha area.

Soni was to the legilative assembly five consecutive times – in 1997, 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017 – from Amritsar Central. He started his political career with local elections and became the mayor of Amritsar for the first time in 1991. Seeing his popularity in 2017, he was included in the Punjab cabinet as soon as the Congress government was formed in state. He was entrusted with the Ministry of Medical Education and Research, Freedom Fighter and Food Processing.

He is one of the 42 Congress MLAs who resigned in protest against the Supreme Court's decision on the Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal. In 2017, he defeated BJP's Tarun Chugh by nearly 21,000 votes and in 2018 he was inducted in the Punjab cabinet.