Mann meets Governor, stakes claim to form AAP govt

Chandigarh, March 12 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann on Saturday met Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhawan here and staked claim to form the Aam Aadmi Party government.He is set to take oath on March 16 as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab.Earlier, Mann was elected the AAP's legislature party leader at a meeting of the party legislators in Mohali near here on Friday.The AAP had swept the state results by winning 92 of the 117 seats.Mann won from Dhuri by over 58,000 votes.In his directive to newly elected party legislators, Mann asked them to spend maximum time in their constituencies, not in capital Chandigarh, and don't hanker for Cabinet berths."We have to work for all those places where we went to seek votes. All MLAs must work in the areas from where they have been elected, not just stay in Chandigarh," Mann was quoted as saying after he was elected the leader of the AAP Legislative Party -- a formality ahead of his swearing-in.After registering a landslide victory, Mann announced that the new Cabinet would take oath of office at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, and not at the Raj Bhavan.Mann, who dons Bhagat Singh's trademark 'basanti' (yellow) turban, also said that no government office will carry photographs of the Chief Minister. Instead, photos of Bhagat Singh and B.R. Ambedkar will be put up on the walls of all government offices.
--IANS vg/shb/

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