Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann will tender his resignation as a member of Lok Sabha on Monday, said sources. Mann is an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP from Sangrur.
As per highly placed sources, Mann will meet Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in the Parliament tomorrow. AAP bagged a landslide victory in Punjab Assembly elections. Mann, who was the party’s chief ministerial candidate, will take the oath on March 16 at the freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s native village Khatkar Kalan.
Notably, Mann has invited Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to the oath-taking ceremony. Meanwhile, Kejriwal and Mann held a roadshow in Amritsar today to express gratitude to the people of the state for giving the party a two-third majority in Punjab.
AAP’s Bhagwant Mann meets Punjab governor to stake claim to form govt
AAP registered a landslide victory in the Punjab polls with 92 seats, pushing most of its rivals to the margins. Congress won 18 seats in the 117-member Assembly. Mann, who was contesting from Dhuri assembly constituency in Sangrur district, won by a margin of 58,206 votes over Congress’ Dalvir Singh Goldy.
Mann was announced as AAP’s chief ministerial candidate on January 18. Born in Satoj village of Sangrur in 1973, Mann started his career as a comedian. He began his political career in 2011 with the Punjab Peoples Party, which is led by Manpreet Singh Badal. In 2012, he fought the elections from the Lehragaga constituency but lost.
Later, he joined the Aam Aadmi Party in 2014 and contested the election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat. His importance in Punjab politics increased when he defeated the veteran leader of Punjab Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, who was then with Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Mann has been elected to the Punjab Lok Sabha seat of Sangrur for two terms in a row since 2014.
He gained popularity from his satires in the TV show ‘Jugnu Mast Mast’. He also featured in several other comedy shows. As AAP wins Punjab, it will be the party’s maiden victory in the state and a vast improvement from its performance in the 2017 elections when it had finished second behind Congress.
