Venu Prasad is new Principal Secretary to Punjab CM

Chandigarh, March 12 (IANS) A 1991 batch IAS officer, A. Venu Prasad, was on Saturday appointed Principal Secretary to the Punjab Chief Minister.He has remained the CMD of Punjab State Power Corp Ltd for long and is currently posted as Additional Chief Secretary (Excise and Taxation).Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann 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 as the 17th Chief Minister of Punjab at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of freedom fighter Bhagat Singh in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar district, on March 16 at 12.30 p.m.The AAP had swept the polls by winning 92 of the 117 seats.Addressing the media outside the Raj Bhavan, Mann said: "We have handed over the letter of support of all the newly-elected MLAs of Aam Aadmi Party to the Governor and staked claim to form the next government of Punjab, which he accepted."We also informed the Governor about the place and time of the swearing-in ceremony. I have invited all the people of Punjab to come to Khatkar Kalan for this historic occasion. On March 16, not only us and our ministers, all the people of Punjab will take an oath to make Punjab prosperous again. We all together make Punjab prosperous."In his directive to newly elected party legislators, Mann asked them to spend maximum time in their constituencies, not in capital Chandigarh, and not to 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.
--IANS vg/skp/

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