A day after he resigned from the post of Punjab Congress president, Navjot Singh Sidhu on Thursday said new state Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is unfurling a “new anti – Mafia era in Punjab with a mountain of expectations”.

“The happiest man is the one from whom no one expects … Bhagwant Mann unfurls a new anti – Mafia era in Punjab with a mountain of expectations …hope he rises to the occasion , brings back Punjab on the revival path with pro – people policies … best always,” the Congress leader said in a tweet. Mann took oath as the new Punjab CM on Wednesday.

After the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) landslide victory in Punjab, Sidhu  had said people took a great decision by voting the party to power.

“This politics is badlaav (change). I congratulate the people of Punjab for taking this excellent decision (to elect AAP). They have changed the traditional system of Punjab and kept a new foundation. People have brought a change and people are never wrong. We should accept it with all humility,” he had said.

Sidhu maintains Congress too was given a decisive mandate but made no use of it. He signed on Wednesday after Congress president Sonia Gandhi asked the state unit chiefs of the five states where the party put up a poor show during the recently-concluded Assembly poll to resign.

“As desired by the Congress President I have sent my resignation,” Sidhu, who was made the state party chief eight months back, had said in a  tweet.

As the Congress lost the power in Punjab in  Assembly polls to the Aam Aadmi Party,  many state Congress leaders were demanding Sidhu’s ouster. He is accused of harming the party’s poll prospects by finding faults in the decisions taken by the Charanjit Singh Channi government.

Sidhu didn’t campaign for the party after Channi was named the Congress’ CM candidate, ignoring the Punjab Congress chief.

Congress won 18 seats in the recent Punjab Assembly polls as compared to 77 in 2017 polls.  Following the defeat in the recently-held Assembly elections, Gandhi on Tuesday had asked state Congress chiefs of Uttarakhand, Goa, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab to resign.