Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
Bhagwant Mann takes oath as Punjab CM: Years before people of Punjab picked him as their chief minister, Bhagwant Mann had won hearts of people across the country with his impeccable comic timing.
Bhagwant Mann, comedian-turned-politician, was in tears when Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had announced his name as AAP's CM candidate for Punjab in January. "People laughed when they see my face. But now they cry and say, save us," Mann had then said summing up his long and eventful journey from the entertainment industry to the big political stage.
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Aam Aadmi Party's stunning Punjab election victory has catapulted Bhagwant Mann as a defiant hero who has grabbed headlines much like Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. While Mann helped his party stop the juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won four out of five states where assembly elections were held in February-March, Zelensky has stood firm against the military onslaught launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin. It's more that three weeks since the Russian troops started their invasion of Ukraine, however, Zelensky has managed to keep his forces intact as he tries hard to safeguard the capital city of Kyiv.
Bhagwant Mann's political journey so far
People's Party of Punjab, founded by Manpreet Singh Badal, had fielded Bhagwant Mann from Lehra assembly constituency in 2011. He lost the election. Mann then joined AAP which fielded him as party's candidate from Sangrur for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Mann won the election and retained the seat in 2019.
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Mann, 48, has spent a number of years in the Punjab entertainment industry before taking the political plunge. His first movie 'Kachheri' released in 1994. However, Bhagwant Mann got nationwide popularity after he participated in a stand up comedy show 'The Great Indian Laughter Challenge' in the late 2000s. Former Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu was one of the judges on the show.
