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.
The police are not taking chances with the inflammatory situation and sufficient force has been deployed to prevent a possible breakdown of law and order.
Suspected terrorists shot dead a J&K Police constable near his residence in Srinagar on Thursday night, sources said. Sources said the incident happened at Saidpora in the city.
The victim, Zile Singh, had been actively involved in serving food to farmers at the protest site on the Khatkar toll plaza for several months. He is survived by his wife and three children.
Bittu stirred up a row after he said the 'sacred' seats of Anandpur Sahib and Chamkaur Sahib have been given to the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)
On Sunday, 61 young men and women were arrested by the Noida police from a farmhouse located in Sector-135 for partying and violating Covid-19 protocols. The Noida police also recovered expensive liquor and beer bottles from the spot.
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday directed the health authorities to start vaccination of teachers, non-teaching staff and students in 18-45 age group from all schools and colleges from June 21, to enable educational institutions in the state to open safely.
