Aam Aadmi Party MP and senior leader Bhagwant Mann on Thursday claimed that his party has started giving sleepless nights to both the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress and they were just trying to conceal their frustration by playing his party down.
“Same things were said about us even during the Delhi polls. They even dubbed us as Naxalites and said so many things. What happened later, everyone knows.” Mann said.
Addressing a news conference here, Mann said that corruption, unemployment and poverty are going to be the challenges for AAP and it was never a concern for the ruling SAD or Congress.
He said that AAP will contest elections on electoral plank of “corruption, poverty, unemployment, the issue of cable mafia, sand mafia, drug abuse, farmer’s suicides and industrial mess. We will take these issues to the public.
He claimed that given the rise in the graph of AAP in the state, Congress’ is set to face a defeat again. “Capt (Amarinder) will be the first to make a statement after the polls, saying that we (Cong) will introspect the reasons behind defeat and he will be the first to congratulate the AAP for the victory,” he said.
Taking on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Capt Amarinder, Mann said that both the leaders try to target AAP in their speeches at political rallies and then they refuse to take them as a challenge. If they are not scared then what is the need to mention or criticize our party.
Rejecting the need for announcing a face for going into the election battle, Mann said that AAP is a party of common people. Quoting example of Arvind Kejriwal, Mann said “How big a face was Arvind Kejriwal when he fought against Sheila Dixit.” But favoring the announcement of Chief Ministerial candidate of the party before the elections, Mann said that “people should know under whom the elections are being fought and under whose leadership”
Asked whether he was prepared to be the CM candidate for the party, Mann plainly said “look if party thinks I am capable and if my party gives me the task of holding a flag in hand and tells me to stand on some bridge in ludhiana, I am prepared to do that even. If party asks me to paste posters throughout Punjab, I am prepared to do that provided that helps my state in some way”.
On the comments of Capt Amarinder Singh that Punjab needs an administrator and not a comedian to manage the state, Mann said that he has been among the top four MPs in the parliament in terms of participation in debates, raising questions and attendance. “Do we crack jokes in ParliamentIJ” he retorted. “Capt Sahab doesn’t attend Parliament, his attendance in the last session was zero. He is not discharging the responsibility entrusted upon him by the people of Amritsar.” said Mann.
“I won the election with the highest margin, and if it was a joke then ask Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, he takes me seriously now.” Mann added.
Condemning the ruling SAD for alleged attempts to gag media in the state, Mann said that an undeclared media emergency had been imposed in the state. He said that everybody knows about the control of SAD over the cable TV industry and government is using media as its tool. Hitting out at a private channel, he said that the particular channel has never covered single news about AAP for positive reasons. He said Media is made to show entirely opposite to that of the ground reality in the State.
Accusing the Government of targeting AAP supporters, Mann said that recently the relatives of two youths from Canada, who are our party’s supporters and used to frequently share their comments or upload videos over social media, were harassed by the police back in Punjab. He said that he had raised this issue in Parliament.