Summary:
New Delhi, Sep 19 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party"s Punjab chief ministerial candidate will hail from the state and will be somebody who can be called the pride of the state, party leader Raghav Chadha said.
With assembly polls in Punjab set for early next year, the AAP is going all out to win the battle and has already promised free 300 units of power to the people of the state if it forms the next government.Chadha, the AAP"s Punjab co-in charge, told PTI in an interview that people of the state want to give the Arvind Kejriwal led party a chance in the next polls as the Akali Dal has become "irrelevant", while the Congress has been the most "nikami sarkar" (useless government) ever in the history of electoral politics of Punjab.He said the chief ministerial candidate of the party for Punjab will be decided by the political affairs committee in due course of time.On chances of AAP MP and Party"s Punjab unit president Bhagwant Mann being chosen, he said at this point and time, "I can only say three characteristics of the CM candidate of AAP.
One is that he will hail from the state of Punjab, he will be from the 2.8 crore population of Punjab and thirdly he will be somebody who can be called the "aan baan shaan" (pride) of Punjab.Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party"s national convener Arvind Kejriwal in June had said that the party"s chief ministerial face for the 2022 Punjab assembly polls would be from the Sikh community.Over reports that Mann"s supporters want that he should be named as the CM candidate, Chadha said, "All are supporters of Kejriwal and of the Kejriwal model of governance.
I don"t wish to comment on individuals but the vote is for Jhaadu (party"s sign) and for Kejriwal".Several AAP volunteers in Sangrur and Barnala districts are holding meetings to press the party leadership to choose Mann as the chief ministerial face, sources in the party said.Talking about the political situation of Punjab, Chadha claimed that the Akali Dal is slowly becoming "irrelevant" because people have "utmost hatred" for the party of Badals and want it to be defeated.As far as the Congress is concerned, it is on a "suicide mission and on self destruction mode" and they do not need an opposition.
They are their own opposition and people are just waiting for the AAP and for elections to happen, he said.On Amarinder Singh"s resignation from the chief minister"s post on Saturday, Chadha has said that governance in Punjab has been the biggest casualty in the Congress party"s ""Game of Thrones"."The people of Punjab are yearning for a change.
They feel they have tried everyone and now only AAP is their hope and they wish to try AAP, they wish to vote for AAP and are banking heavily on the Kejriwal model of governance in Delhi that was showcased in the last six years," he said.Chadha said when he asks people of the state who they will vote for in the next polls, they reply that this time they want to give a chance to AAP.On the impact of the ongoing farmer"s protest on the polls, Chadha alleged that all three parties - BJP, Congress and Akali Dal - have "betrayed" the Indian farmers and "backstabbed" them "I don"t look at the farmers protest through the prism of politics and it would be unfair for anyone to do that but I can most certainly say that the BJP is not even a player in Punjab because of enacting these three laws.