Punjab's Bhagwant Mann-led cabinet inducts ten AAP MLAs, including eight first-timers

Ten AAP MLAs, including a woman, were inducted in the Bhagwant Mann-led Cabinet in Punjab on Saturday. Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to the ministers at Punjab Bhawan in Chandigarh.

Haryana Governor Bandaru Dattatreya was also present at the oath-taking ceremony.

Harpal Singh Cheema, Harbhajan Singh, Dr Vijay Singla, Lal Chand, Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, Laljit Singh Bhullar, Bram Shanker Jimpa, Harjot Singh Bains and Dr Baljit Kaur, the lone woman in the cabinet, were administered the oath.

Among the 10, eight are first-time MLAs. All of them took the oath in Punjabi.

Barring Harpal Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, the other ministers have been elected to the assembly for the first time.

Cheema, 47, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Dirba, was the leader of the opposition in the previous assembly.

Hayer, who has got re-elected from Barnala, is the state youth wing president of the AAP.

There are 18 berths in the cabinet, including the chief minister.

The Punjab Governor administered the oath of office and secrecy to Bhagwant Mann on 16 March, 2022, who was sworn in as chief minister at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

According to the sources, the Bhagwant Mann government is likely to take the decision in the Cabinet meeting to implement one of the election promises of the Aam Admi Party (AAP).

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Among other poll promises of the AAP in Punjab, the national convenor of the party and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had promised to improve the condition of government schools and hospitals in the state, generate employment avenues, free electricity up to 300 units per billing cycle and also promised Rs 1,000 per month to women above 18 years.

He had also promised a corruption-free government and controlling drug menace in the state.

Earlier on 17 March, 2022, the Punjab chief minister announced that an anti-corruption helpline will be launched in the state on 'Shaheed Diwas (Martyr's Day)' on 23 March, 2022.

Mann had said that the people will be able to lodge complaints against corruption via WhatsApp.

A day after Mann assumed office, the AAP-led Punjab government took the first step towards fulfilling the promises which it had made in the run-up to the state Assembly polls – a corruption-free government and controlling drug menace in the state that shares a border with Pakistan.

The AAP bagged 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab assembly, decimating the Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party combine, and the BJP-Punjab Lok Congress-SAD (Sanyukt) alliance.

With inputs from agencies

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