Amarinder assumes charge amid chanting of prayers and hymns

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh took charge of his new office at the Punjab Secretariat here today amid multi-religious prayers.
The second floor office of Punjab's 26th chief minister reverberated with the chanting of sacred hymns from the Bhagwad Gita, the Guru Granth Sahib, the Quran and the Bible as he entered it along with several of his newly inducted ministerial colleagues, MLAs and associates.
This is the second time that Amarinder will occupy the Punjab chief minister's stately office. He had earlier been the chief minister of the state from 2002 to 2007.
Amarinder, along with a 9-member council of ministers, had taken the oath of office earlier in the morning at the Punjab Raj Bhawan in the presence of several prominent dignitaries, including former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC vice president Rahul Gandhi.

After assuming charge, Amarinder said he was committed to fulfilling all his electoral promises and his government would take several important decisions at its first cabinet meeting scheduled on Saturday.
He reiterated his promise to constitute a Special Task Force (STF) to wipe out the drug menace from the state within four weeks, as promised in the Congress poll manifesto.