Sidhu welcomes Mann, hopes 'a new anti-mafia era in Punjab'

|HT|

The Congress witnessed a catastrophic defeat in the Punjab election this year, prompting Sonia Gandhi to demand the resignation of Navjot Sidhu as president of the party's state unit. The presidents of the other four states that voted last month - in all of which the Congress slipped to terrible defeats - were also asked to resign. A day after complying - Sidhu handed over a one-line letter - the controversial former cricketer tweeted welcoming Aam Aadmi Party leader Bhagwant Mann on taking charge as the new chief minister of the border state. Sidhu hailed Mann for 'a new anti-mafia era in Punjab' and tweeted: "The happiest man is the one from whom no one expects… Bhagwant Mann unfurls a new anti-mafia era in Punjab with a mountain of expectations…hope he rises to the occasion, brings back Punjab on the revival path with pro-people policies… best always." The AAP recorded a thumping win over the Congress - it claimed 92 of 117 seats and saw its candidate beat Sidhu in Amritsar (East).

AAP candidates also beat former chief minister Charanjit Channi at two seats.

Mann took his oath in a grand ceremony on Wednesday at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh. The 48-year-old beat the Congress' Dalvir Singh Goldy from Dhuri in Sangrur district; he was the Lok Sabha MP from here.

Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal has congratulated Mann and expressed confidence that, under his leadership, prosperity will return to Punjab.

(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)