A comedian to a politician: 5 facts about Bhagwant Mann, AAP`s CM candidate for Punjab

Bhagwant Mann had once won Punjab`s heart with his comic timing. The man, who forayed into politics in 2011, will now be the face of Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab Assembly Polls 2022. Will this be his big political moment?

Chandigarh: Putting speculations to rest, the Aam Aadmi Party led by Arvind Kejriwal declared Bhagwant Mann as the party's chief ministerial candidate ahead of the Punjab Assembly polls.

Kejriwal said that Bhagwant Mann was chosen on the basis of over 22 lakh responses that the party received under its campaign to elect its CM face for the Assembly polls. He said that 93% of people voted in favour of Mann's name.

So who is Bhagwant Mann and what do we know about him? Here are 5 facts about AAP's CM face for Punjab:

1) Bhagwant Mann was born on October 17, 1973, to Mohinder Singh and Harpal Kaur at Satauj, Sangrur, Punjab. 

2) Before he embarked on his political career, Bhagwant Mann was a comedian, and quite popular too. It was before the internet took over the world but Mann often hit the right note with his comic timings and participated in youth comedy festivals and inter-college competitions. His rustic Punjabi humour connected with political satire made him a popular name, even before he took part in a popular comedy show on television.

3) In early 2011, Mann joined the People's Party of Punjab. He contested from the Lehra constituency but was disappointed. It was in 2014 that Mann joined the Aam Aadmi Party and contested elections in the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency. He won by over 2 lakh votes. But again in 2017, disappointment lay in wait as contesting elections in Jalalabad, he lost the elections to Sukhbir Singh Badal. 

4) There were several controversies surrounding Mann, the main being allegations of alcoholism. At a public meeting of the Aam Aadmi Party in 2019, with his mother Harpal Kaur by his side, Mann pledged to give up on alcohol, promising never to touch it again. Earlier in 2018, Mann - who was the convener of AAP Punjab - resigned after Arvind Kejriwal tendered an unconditional apology to Bikram Singh Majithia over the drug mafia case.

5) In 2015, Bhagwant Mann and his then-wife Inderjeet Kaur had filed for divorce. According to some media reports, Mann had later admitted that he probably couldn't give time to his family because of his work. Inderjeet also stayed in US and Mann said he couldn't move there, while she couldn't come to India and they both decided to divorce by mutual consent. They have a son and a daughter.

Voting for Punjab's 117 Assembly seats is scheduled for February 20 and the counting will take place on March 10. It's left to be seen if Mann can win his people's hearts, as a CM face, as he once did as a comedian.