Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday assumed office as the Punjab chief minister at the state civil secretariat in Chandigarh.
He was sworn in as the CM earlier in the day.
Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mann in the swearing-in ceremony that took place at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Punjab's Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar district.
Only Mann took the oath during the ceremony, not his cabinet minister.
Besides the newly-elected AAP MLAs, Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Delhi minister Satyendar Jain, and other leaders wearing yellow turbans were also present.
AAP's Punjab affairs in-charge Jarnail Singh and co-incharge Raghav Chadha also attended the event.
The 48-year-old Mann, who took the oath in Punjabi, also delivered a brief address after the ceremony.
In his first speech after becoming the chief minister, Mann assured the people of the state that his party's government in Punjab will work to address issues like unemployment, corruption and farmers' plight.
“The work will start from today itself. We will not waste even a single day. We are already late by 70 years," he said.
He promised that the condition of government schools and hospitals in the state will be improved like it has been done by the AAP government in Delhi.
Like people from abroad come to see the improved schools and hospitals in Delhi, they will also come to Punjab, he said.
He also touched upon the issue of youth of Punjab migrating to other countries for greener pastures.
Thanking people for attending the oath-taking ceremony in large numbers, Mann said earlier, the swearing-in ceremonies used to take place at cricket stadiums or Raj Bhawans.
"Now this oath-taking ceremony is held at the village of a martyr," he said, adding that Khatkar Kalan was not new for him as he had visited it many times.
“Bhagat Singh had dreamt of freedom and the AAP is fighting to take that freedom to the common people," he said.
The AAP had a landslide win in the Punjab Assembly polls by winning 92 seats to form its government with a three-fourth majority in the 117-member legislative assembly.
The ruling Congress managed to secure 18 seats while Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ended up with two seats. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) bagged three seats while Bahujan Samaj Party managed to win a solitary seat.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress had won 77 seats whereas SAD could win only 15 seats, BJP netted three and independent candidates won two seats. AAP had emerged as the second-largest party with 20 seats.
