Guard against arrogance, Punjab Chief Minister-elect tells AAP MLAs

The Chief Minister-designate of Punjab, Bhagwant Mann, has asked newly-elected MLAs of Aam Admi Party (AAP) to stay away from arrogance and work for all sections of the state.

“I urge all our elected members not to be arrogant. Work for everyone…also for those who have not voted for you. You as MLAs represent all Punjabis,” Mann said in his first address to 92 AAP MLAs on Friday (March 11) after the party registered a resounding win in the northern state.

Meanwhile, Mann met Governor Banwarilal Purohit at Raj Bhavan in Chandigarh on Saturday morning, where he staked claim to form the government in the state. He was elected as the AAP Legislature Party leader at a meeting of the party MLAs in Mohali on Friday.

Mann specially asked the MLAs to spend maximum time in their respective constituency and not in Chandigarh, the capital. Anticipating the next daunting task of cabinet formation, the Chief Minister-elect asked members to not to think too much about getting a ministerial position.

“We can have 17 cabinet ministers besides the Chief Minister. Nobody should get upset for not becoming a minister. For me, you are all cabinet ministers,” he told a gathering of new MLAs.

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“Now it is our job to reach out to all the people of Punjab and go everywhere where we went to seek votes. Every MLA is duty-bound to work for his or her constituency and not just make trips to and fro to Chandigarh,” said Mann, who won from the Dhuri seat by over 58,000 votes.

Two days back, Mann had declared that the oath-taking ceremony of the new Punjab cabinet will be held at Khatkarkalan in Nawanshahr district, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh.

Earlier, he went to Delhi to seek the blessings of AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and invited him for the oath-taking ceremony.