Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann’s cabinet takes oath today

Punjab oath ceremony: The cabinet’s first meeting is set to take place on Saturday, shortly after the oath ceremony.

The cabinet of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Maan will take oath on Saturday, a day after he released the names of his ministers in a tweet. Mann, 48, was sworn in earlier this week after the Aam Aadmi Party won 92 of the 117 assembly seats in the state elections.

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 government. 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  today

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 made a big deal about guaranteeing a state free of corruption. The chief minister established an anti-corruption helpline a day after a lavish oath ceremony in Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom warrior Bhagat Singh.

Punjab is the second state after Delhi in which the AAP has formed a state government as part of its national expansion strategy.