Chandigarh: A Venu Prasad on Monday joined as Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister designate Bhagwant Mann. Prasad was welcomed by the outgoing Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Hussan Lal. Prasad is an IAS officer of 1991 batch.

Prasad’s appointment is the first such administrative change following the change of guard in the state. He was Additional Chief Secretary, Parliamentary Affairs and Taxation, with additional charge of Chairman-cum-Managing Director, Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited.

Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Friday submitted his resignation to Governor Banwarilal Purohit following his Congress party's drubbing in the Assembly polls. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) romped home by winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.

Bhagwant Mann will be sworn-in as Punjab Chief Minister on March 16 at Khatkar Kalan, the ancestral village of legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, in Nawanshahr district. /BI/