Ahead of the Punjab assembly election , the Aam Aadmi Party announced its MP Bhagwant Mann as the CM face. To give the Chief Minister's face in the ongoing election campaign, AAP had sought public opinion by issuing a mobile number. 21.59 lakh people gave their opinion over the last three days. About 15 lakh people have given their consent to the name of Bhagwant Mann. Announcing the name of Bhagwant Mann in support of people's opinion, AAP's convener and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal said that Mann got 93.3% and PPCC, President Navjot Singh Sidhu got only 3.6% votes.
Who Is Bhagwant Mann?
Bhagwant Mann, 50, started his career as a comedian. He earned a name by working in many stage shows and Punjabi’s films. But later joined politics and says that a lot had to be lost by him after joining politics. Bhagwant Mann got divorced from his wife in 2015. For some time he had been in contact with the children, but now Bhagwant Mann says that even his children have become distant.
Bhagwant Mann himself had revealed in an interview that, “I don't even talk to my children on the phone anymore. I may not be able to give time to my family, due to which the family has kept a distance from me,” he had said. "We had divorced by mutual consent. Now everyone has separated from me and they know I consider Punjab as my whole family”.
The journey of Bhagwant Mann to become a political face has not been easy. Mann has had to face many ups and downs in deciding this journey of politics. Even before coming to politics, Bhagwant Mann was prevalent as a face, but the majority of the world's population, including Punjab, knew him as a comedian. At present, he is a member of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Lok Sabha for two consecutive terms.
Bhagwant Mann was appointed as the state president of Punjab by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) last year. Bhagwant Mann is the only Lok Sabha MP of the Aam Aadmi Party, elected from Punjab. Bhagwant Mann also won the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and after that Bhagwant Mann has been successful in winning the Lok Sabha elections for the second time as well.
Mann fought the first election with Punjab People's Party, was defeated
MP Bhagwant Mann today is considered the face of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab, but comedian Mann started his political innings from the newly formed Punjab People's Party on behalf of Manpreet Singh Badal. He contested from Lehra assembly seat in 2012 on the ticket of Punjab People's Party, but he had to face defeat in this election.
After this, Bhagwant Mann broke ties with the Punjab People's Party and joined the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party in 2014. The Aam Aadmi Party gave him a ticket from Sangrur in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. In which Bhagwant Mann defeated Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa of SAD Samyukta. At the same time, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Bhagwant Mann had won from Sangrur.
Faced the allegation of being in Parliament in a 'drunk state'
Bhagwant Mann had been accused of going to Parliament after consuming alcohol. In 2016, other MPs accused him of coming to the MP under influence. However, the party had denied these allegations. At the same time, the sacked MP from the Aam Aadmi Party, Harinder Singh Khalsa, once spoke in the House and demanded to change his seat. Khalsa had said that ”Bhagwant Mann comes to Parliament after drinking alcohol, he is upset with him, because his mouth smells bad. In such a situation, he had requested to change his seat.”
At the same time, in a rally organized in Punjab last year, MP Bhagwant Mann had sworn that he has given up alcohol from January 1 and he would never drink again. MP Bhagwant has also been in a lot of discussions due to his controversial statements. During the discussion on the budget, he also dragged Lalu Yadav's family, targeting the BJP and Congress. Due to which there was a lot of uproar in the Lok Sabha.
Mann’s academic qualification
Bhagwant Mann was born in Satoj village of Sangrur district of Punjab on October 17, 1972. His father was named Mohinder Singh, who was a school teacher but Maan is an undergraduate. He has done B.Com (First Year) from SUS Government College in Sangrur district of Punjab.
As comedian earned a lot of fame
In 1992, Bhagwant Mann joined Creative Music Company and started doing shows. He was active in the field of discography till 2013. Bhagwant Mann participated in Youth Comedy Festival and Inter College competitions. He won two gold medals at Shaheed Udham Singh Government College in Punjabi University, Patiala. In 1994, he made his film debut with 'Kachari'. He did more than 12 films till 2018. Bhagwant Mann started doing comedy about specific Indian issues like politics, business and sports.
His first comedy album was with Jagtar Jaggi. In 2006, Bhagwant Mann and Jaggi toured Canada and England with their show 'No Life' with Wife. In 2008, Mann participated in the Great Indian Laughter Challenge, which became popular with his audience. Bhagwant Mann also acted in the National Award-winning film "Main Maa Punjab Di" directed by Balwant Dulat.
