Bhagwant Mann takes oath as Punjab CM in Bhagat Singh's village days after AAP's landslide victory
Within a week after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) scripted a resounding victory in Punjab, comedian-turned politician Bhagwant Mann took oath as the new Chief Minister of the state at Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh's village in the Nawanshahr district on Wednesday.
Wearing a yellow turban, Mann was sworn in by Governor Banwarilal Purohit on the same dais where Kejriwal, his deputy in Delhi, Manish Sisodia and other top AAP leaders were present.
In a brief speech after his oath, Mann, who lauded the voters, said he is the "Chief Minister for all" irrespective of people's political inclinations.
"Doesn't matter whether you have voted for me or not, I am the Chief Minister for all of you," said Mann, a two-term former Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, in presence of a decent crowd.
After bidding farewell to his career as a comedian, Mann joined the People's Party of Punjab in 2011.
A year later, Mann, who won from Dhuri in 2022, joined the then new party AAP and won from Sangrur for the two consecutive terms.
The AAP, which had projected Mann as its Chief Ministerial candidate before the polls, on Mar 10 showed Congress the door winning a massive 92 of 117 seats while the grand old party faced another nightmare in contemporary politics.
With the win, AAP has become the fourth Indian party after Congress, BJP and CPI-M to have more than one state government in the country (though Delhi is a union territory).
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