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.
Popularly known as 'langar baba', Jagdish Lal Ahuja, who was battling cancer, had been serving free food in the langar -- the practice of a free community kitchen and open to all -- across Chandigarh since 1981.
The Bill was passed by a voice just as it was passed by the Lok Sabha two hours earlier. When the Rajya Sabha assembled at 2 p.m., the Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar moved the motion in the Rajya Sabha.
Delhi Education Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday once again asked the Congress-led Punjab government for the details of the 250 government schools to compare the education models of both the states.
Former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress rebel Amarinder Singh on Monday called on Haryana Chief Minister and BJP leader Manohar Lal Khattar here. The duo described the surprise meeting as 'courtesy call'.
A 39-year-old South Africa returnee was retested on Monday and turned out to be positive for Covid-19, the Chandigarh administration said.One of his family members and domestic help were also tested positive for the virus.
A massive earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale occurred along the Mizoram-Myanmar border on Friday, which was shook parts of Assam, Manipur, Tripura and the adjoining areas of northeast region, authorities said, adding that there were no reported damages or deaths.
