Chandigarh: Captain Amarinder Singh will take oath as the 26th Chief Minister of Punjab on Thursday in a ceremony attended likely to be attended by Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi.
The oath will be administered by Punjab Governor VP Singh Badnore at the Raj Bhavan.
Along with the Captain, Braham Mohindra, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Manpreet Singh Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharmsot, Tript Tajinder Singh Bajwa, Rana Gurjit Singh and Charanjit Singh Channi will take oath as Cabinet ministers. Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana will be Ministers of State.
The state can have a maximum of 18 ministers. The Congress has 77 MLAs in the Assembly.
Two days before the ceremony, the Punjab Congress had said it would be a simple affair as an austerity measure. "There will be nothing ostentatious about the oath-taking programme at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday morning, when Punjab Governor V P Singh Badnore will administer the oath of office to Amarinder Singh as the new chief minister of the state," Punjab Congress had said on Tuesday.
Singh had also urged all newly elected MLAs to keep their personal invitations to the bare minimum.
The oath-taking ceremony of the CM is traditionally held at the Raj Bhawan, but outgoing Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had chosen different venues in 2007 and 2012 when the SAD-BJP formed the government.
The swearing-in ceremony of Badal, who was sworn-in as the CM for the fourth time in 2007, had taken place at the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA) stadium at Mohali. In 2012, the ceremony was held at historic Chapar Chiri Banda Bahadur Memorial, about 25 km from here.
This is the second time that Singh takes oath as chief minister, having served in that capacity in 2002-2007.
Riding on strong anti-incumbency, Congress stormed to power in Punjab after a gap of 10 years by winning 77 seats in the 117-assembly seats of the Vidhan Sabha.
Ruling SAD-BJP won 18, AAP fighting its maiden assembly polls in Punjab won 20 while 2 seats went to newly floated outfit and AAP ally Lok Insaaf Party.
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