CHANDIGARH: For the first time in Punjab, opposition will be led by Aam Aadmi Party candidate. AAP secured 22 seats and SAD- BJP combine got the worst drubbing and could manage to win only 18 seats. Meanwhile, Captain Amarinder Singh-led Congress government may see Navjot Singh Sidhu as deputy chief minister and Manpreet Badal as finance minister. Manpreet was FM during the Akali regime.The new Punjab assembly will have a two-pronged opposition with the Aam Aadmi Party sharing the benches with its bête noir Shiromani Akali Dal . Since the AAP and its allies have four seats more than SAD-BJP alliance, the joint 40-member Opposition will be led by an AAP leader.This is the first time since 1997 that Akali leader Parkash Singh Badal will not be the leader of the opposition in the assembly. On Sunday, calling for a bigger role for regional leaders in states, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh dubbed the absence of a regional face as one of reasons for the drubbing received by the Aam Aadmi Party in the Punjab assembly polls.Talking to the local media here on Sunday, a day after the Congress recorded a landslide victory in the stat e, a relaxed Captain Amarinder Singh said it was important to promote regional leaders in order to counter other regional parties in states. It was vital, he said, to project a regional face that could identify with the people of the region.Captain Amarinder Singh was on Sunday unanimously elected the new leader of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) in Punjab, after which he formally met the governor to stake claim to form government, thus clearing the decks for him to be sworn in as the new chief minister of the state.The swearing-in ceremony will take place here on Thursday at 10 am, when Captain Amarinder will take the oath as chief minister. A few cabinet members will also take their oath of office along with him but the party did not give any details. Reacting to the poll outcome in Punjab, the Congress chief ministerial candidate dismissed the AAP hype in the run-up to the Punjab elections as nothing more than a social media creation.To a question on the UP poll results, Captain Amarinder revealed that he had spoken to Priyanka Gandhi last night and they had discussed that the Congress had a chance of a comeback in the politically crucial state, just as it had come back in Punjab this time. He added that the Congress winning performance in three of the five states that went to polls showed that the party’s overall standing had improved.