He was administered oath of office and secrecy by Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore at an impressive ceremony at the Punjab Raj Bhawan here.
The second floor office of Punjab's 26th Chief Minister reverberated with the chanting of sacred hymns from the Bhagwad Gita, Guru Granth Sahib, Quran and Bible as he entered it in the company of several of his newly inducted ministerial colleagues, legislators, close aides and associates.
After assuming charge, Amarinder Singh told the media that he was committed to fulfilling all his electoral promises.
He reiterated his promise to constitute a Special Task Force (STF) to wipe out the drugs menace from the state within four weeks.
He said farm loan waiver, industrial revival and employment were some of the other programmes high on his government's agenda, which he said would take up on priority.
This is the second time that Amarinder, 75, has become Chief Minister of the state. He earlier held the office from 2002 to 2007.
He has kept the important Home Department with himself while Manpreet Singh Badal will be the new Finance Minister.
Manpreet Badal, the estranged nephew of outgoing Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, will also handle the portfolios of Planning and Employment Generation.
Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore, who allocated the portfolios to the nine ministers on the Chief Minister's advice, allocated to former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu the charge of Local Government and Tourism Departments.
Sidhu, who was speculated to become the Deputy Chief Minister, was given the "No. 3" slot.
During the swearing-in ceremony here earlier in the day, Sidhu was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Punjab Governor V.P. Singh Badnore after Amarinder Singh and cabinet minister Brahm Mohindra.
Sidhu, who joined the Congress in January ahead of the February 4 assembly elections, won the Amritsar-East assembly seat by over 42,000 votes.
He was earlier an MP from Amritsar when he was part of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2004, 2007 (by-election) and 2009.
Amarinder Singh will also handle General Administration, Personnel, Home Affairs and Justice, Vigilance and all other departments not assigned to any other minister, an official spokesman said here.
Brahm Mohindra will look after Health and Family Welfare, Research and Medical Education and Parliamentary Affairs.
Navjot Singh Sidhu will also handle Cultural Affairs, Archives and Museums.
Other ministers and their portfolios are: Sadhu Singh Dharamsot (Forests, Printing and Stationery, Welfare of SCs and BCs); Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa (Rural Development and Panchayats and Water Supply and Sanitation); Rana Gurjit Singh (Irrigation and Power); Charanjit Singh Channi (Technical Education and Industrial Training); Aruna Chaudhary, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Higher Education and School Education; and Razia Sultana, Minister of State (Independent Charge), Public Works Department, Social Security and Development of Women and Children.
Congratulations @capt_amarinder on taking oath as CM. Wishing you the very best in working for Punjab’s development.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) March 16, 2017
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated Amarinder Singh on taking charge as the Chief Minister of Punjab.
"Congratulations Capt. Amarinder Singh on taking oath as CM. Wishing you the very best in working for Punjab's development," Modi tweeted.
12 TOP BUREAUCRATS TRANSFERRED; PUNJAB GETS NEW CHIEF SECRETARY
Within hours of assuming office, the Congress government in Punjab on Thursday ordered transfers and postings of 12 top bureaucrats, appointing 1984-batch IAS officer Karan Avtar Singh as the new Chief Secretary.
The new Chief Secretary -- who assumed charge on Thursday - replaces 1982-batch IAS officer Sarvesh Kaushal.
Kaushal has been made Special Chief Secretary-cum-Director General of Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration.
The new Chief Secretary will also act as Principal Secretary of the Departments of Personnel, General Administration and Vigilance as well as Investment Promotion.
Supreme Court lawyer Atul Nanda was appointed the new state Advocate General.
Himmat Singh has been posted as Special Chief Secretary, Horticulture, apart from Special Principal Secretary, Forests and Wildlife.
Karanbir Singh Sidhu has been posted as Special Chief Secretary, Revenue and Rehabilitation, and Irrigation, a state government spokesman said here.
Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Home Affairs and Justice.
He will also look after Agriculture and Removal of Grievances Departments. Kalsi will also be the Principal Resident Commissioner (Investment Promotion and Industrial Liaison) at Punjab Bhavan, New Delhi, and Additional Chief Secretary, Governance Reforms.
Satish Chandra has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Cooperation.
Tejveer Singh has been posted as Special Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister and Secretary, Information and Public Relations, and Secretary, Civil Aviation.
S.K. Sandhu has been posted as Additional Chief Secretary Social Security and Women and Children Development.
Anurag Agarwal has been posted as Financial Commissioner, Taxation.
Raji P. Shrivastava has been posted as Director, Mahatma Gandhi State Institute of Public Administration.
Vivek Pratap Singh has been posted as Excise and Taxation Commissioner.
Krishan Kumar has been posted as Secretary, Expenditure (Department of Finance), and Secretary, Personnel.
A SECOND INNINGS FOR AMARINDER SINGH IN PUNJAB
Amarinder Singh, who assumed charge of Punjab as Chief Minister on Thursday for a second time, wears many hats and has accomplished himself in most of them.
Better known as a politician from Punjab, Amarinder Singh has varied interests.
Coming from the erstwhile royal family of Patiala, he is still addressed as 'Maharaja' in some circles.
Amarinder Singh had joined the Army in the 1960s and was a Captain. He has business interests and is an agriculturist and orchardist. Besides, he is an author, having written books on wars and Sikhs.
An alumnus of the Lawrence School-Sanawar (Kasauli Hills) and Doon School at Dehradun, Amarinder Singh has never hesitated in taking bold decisions in public and personal life.
Be it quitting as a Congress MP after being upset over "Operation Bluestar" of the Indian Army ordered by Indira Gandhi in 1984, even at the cost of affecting his personal relations with the Gandhi family; leaving the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1992 or more recently resigning his Amritsar Lok Sabha seat in November after a Supreme Court ruling on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal which was adverse to Punjab - Amarinder Singh has never been wary of taking a public stand on issues where the interests of home state Punjab or the Sikh community were involved.
Even on the personal front, Amarinder, 75, has not shied away from his relationship with his friend from Pakistan, Aroosa Alam, even when his opponents have tried to corner him on this.
Amarinder Singh remained Chief Minister of Punjab from 2002 to 2007. After coming down heavily on corruption in the early part of his tenure, Amarinder Singh drew flak later as a coterie of people around him took grip of things in Punjab and he ended up on the wrong side as the Congress lost the assembly polls to the Akalis in 2007.
In the 2012 assembly polls, Amarinder Singh led the party to another defeat. Both he and the party had to be out of power in Punjab for a decade.
But the 2017 assembly elections brought luck to Amarinder Singh and the Congress.
Up against tougher competition from the Akali Dal-BJP combine and the new entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Amarinder Singh, who had announced last year that this assembly polls would be his last political battle, came out a winner not only in the state but also stopped the Congress' losing streak in important states.
Having won the state despite the odds, Amarinder Singh is likely stamp his authority in his new government. A sample of that was seen in his ministry where cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was touted to be the Deputy Chief Minister and had the so-called blessings of the Congress high command, was inducted only as a cabinet minister, that too at the number three slot.
In his second innings in government, Amarinder Singh must prove himself all over again - having made big promises to the electorate like proving jobs to youth, waiving loans of farmers and eradicating drugs from Punjab.
With a BJP-led government at the centre, none of this is going to be easy for Amarinder Singh and his government.
Highlights
*PM Narendra Modi congratulates Amarinder on taking over as CM; wishes him the best in working for the state’s development
*Order of swearing-in: Amarinder Singh, Brahm Mohindra, Navjot Sidhu, Manpreet Badal, Sadhu Singh Dharamsot, Tript Rajinder Bajwa, Rana Gurjeet Singh, Charanjit Singh Channi, Aruna Chaudhary and Razia Sultana
*Harinder Singh Khalsa, AAP MP, was the only leader from the Opposition to participate in the ceremony
*Tripat Rajinder Bajwa gets himself clicked with Rahul Gandhi
*Sadhu Singh Dharamsot also greets Rahul
*Manpreet Badal seeks blessings of Amarinder before his swearing-in. Later, he meets Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi
*Navjot Sidhu takes blessings of Rahul and Manmohan after his swearing-in
*His wife Navjot Kaur Sidhu greets him and congratulates him after he is sworn in
*Navjot Sidhu forgets to shake hands with the Governor; is reminded by the secretary
*Traffic jam near Punjab Governor’s house
*Raj Babbar and Vir Sanghvi also present at the venue
*Security personnel have a tough time manning the VVIP entrance to the venue
*Ex-Haryana CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Congress leader Kapil Sibal present
