Chandigarh, March 17 (IANS) The newly constituted legislative assembly, whose three-day session began here on Thursday, was different as most of the security guards did not recognise a few new faces who arrived for the session.
The first of the session commenced with Pro-tem Speaker Inderbir Singh Nijjar administering the oath of office and secrecy to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as Member of the Vidhan Sabha.
Breaking the convention, all women members were administered oath after the Chief Minister.
Thereafter, all other members were sworn in by the Speaker as members of the newly constituted Assembly district-wise in an alphabetical order.
The Chief Minister announced an anti-corruption helpline.
A day after resigning from the post of Punjab Congress chief, Navjot Singh Sidhu, who faced defeat from his stronghold Amritsar (East), supported Mann's crusade against corruption.
"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," Sidhu said in a tweet.
Rising from the ashes like the phoenix, the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) last week, in a maiden emphatic win, crushed the traditional players that ruled the border state of Punjab for over seven decades with its stunning victory largely by its greenhorns on 92 of the 117 seats of the legislative assembly.
The previous ruling Congress, which won 77 seats in 2017, managed to win only 18 seats with most of its stalwarts like Chief Minister Charanjit Channi and state party chief Sidhu facing humiliating defeat from their respective strongholds.
Former Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal on Monday urged the Centre and the state governments "to fully acknowledge and honour the contribution of each and every player, in addition to the medal winners, who represented the country at the Tokyo Olympics".
The 'Skytrax World Airport' awards are considered to be the most significant accolade for the airport industry, voted by customers in the largest, annual global airport customer satisfaction survey.
Rahul Gandhi along with other leaders sat with the agitating farmers. He said, "Everybody in the opposition has gathered to extend support against the 'black laws'. We want a discussion over Pegasus, but they (Government) are not allowing the discussion, Narendra Modi has intercepted every Indian's phone with the spyware."
Sukhbir Badal said that it is a great honour that 10 players from the state were part of the men's hockey team that won the bronze in Tokyo, ending India's 41-year wait for an Olympic hockey medal.
Peace Mission-2021 is an anti-terrorist command and staff exercise of member countries. More than 3,000 soldiers are expected to participate in the drill.
