The bitterness of high-pitched election campaigns behind them, Congress MPs walked up to Punjab Chief Minister-designate Bhagwant Mann in parliament on Monday to congratulate him on the Aam Aadmi Party’s big election victory in the state.
Congress leader Shashi Tharoor tweeted a selfie with Bhagwant Mann on the day the second phase of the Budget Session began.
“Parliamentary camaraderie,” Tharoor wrote. “Many Congress MPs came up to Bhagwant Mann to congratulate him on his election victory and appointment as CM of Punjab. I had the pleasure of sharing his joy after five years of being seated in the same bench in the Lok Sabha in the previous term.”
Mann will resign as a Lok Sabha MP on Monday. He is set to be sworn as chief minister at a ceremony on March 16 at Khatkar Kalan -- freedom fighter Bhagat Singh’s ancestral village outside Punjab’s Banga town.
Read: The ‘Delhi model’ of development that won Punjab for AAP
The Aam Aadmi Party won 92 out of 117 seats in the Punjab assembly polls, defeating the incumbent Congress that managed to bag just 18 seats.
Mann won from his assembly seat Dhuri by more than 58,000 votes. He was up against Congress’ Dalvir Singh Goldy.
Heavyweight candidates also lost elections to AAP members. Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal, five-time chief minister, was defeated by Gurmeet Khudian from Lambi -- his traditional constituency.
Two-time chief minister Amarinder Singh, who fought the elections in alliance with the BJP, lost his stronghold Patiala to AAP’s Ajitpal Singh Kohli.
Congress’ Charanjit Singh Channi, chief minister of Punjab at the time of elections, lost Bhadaur constituency to Labh Singh Ugoke.
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