Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s cabinet takes oath today

Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Maan’s cabinet will take oath on Saturday, a day after he revealed the names of his ministers in a Twitter post.

Mann, 48, had taken oath earlier this week after the Aam Aadmi Party’s huge win in the state polls with 92 of 117 assembly seats.

Harpal Singh Cheema, Dr Baljit Kaur, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker, and Harjot Singh are the 10 AAP MLAs who will be sworn in as ministers on Saturday.

“Punjab’s new cabinet will be sworn in tomorrow. Big congratulations to all ministers taking oath in the AAP goverment. The people of the state have given us a huge responsibilty. We have to work day and night to serve them… we have to work for an honest governance,” the chief minister said in a tweet in Hindi and Punjabi on Friday night.

Soon after the oath ceremony, the cabinet’s first meeting is also expected to take place on Saturday.

AAP MLA Kultar Singh Sandhwan has been picked to be the next speaker of the 117-member assembly. Taking to Twitter, Sandhwan thanked Mann and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal.“Heartful thanks to my Leader Shri @ArvindKejriwal Ji and My CM @BhagwantMann Ji for imposing faith in me as Speaker of the Historical 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha,” Sandhwan, who was elected as the legislator from Kotkapura tweeted.

The AAP has gone big on promising a corruption-free state. A day after a grand oath ceremony in Khatkar Kalan, freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village, the chief minister had announced an anti-corruption helpline.

Punjab is the second state after Delhi where the AAP has formed the state government as it looks to expanding its national footprint.