AAP’s Bhagwant Mann meets governor, stakes claim to form gov. in Punjab

TIL Desk/National/Chandigarh/ Punjab chief minister-designate Bhagwant Mann on Saturday staked claim to form government in the state after meeting Governor Banwarilal Purohit here.

After the meeting, Mann told reporters outside the Raj Bhawan that he handed over a letter of support of his party MLAs to the governor who accepted it. “We staked claim to form the government and the governor sahib approved it,” said Mann.

The 48-year-old Mann was elected the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday. Mann said the swearing-in ceremony will be held at 12:30 pm on March 16 at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, in Nawanshahr district.

Mann has invited AAP national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his swearing-in ceremony. The AAP romped home by winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.

It decimated the Congress and the SAD-BSP combine and its candidates defeated several stalwarts, including the outgoing chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi, SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and former chief minister Amarinder Singh.