Aam Aadmi party’s Punjab unit Chief and Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said some leaders and workers leaving the party was not going to impact its candidates prospects in the upcoming Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll.
His statement came in reaction to exodus of sorts from the AAP to traditional political parties ahead crucial bye-elections.
Joginder Singh Chinna, who had contested 2017 Punjab Assembly polls on AAP ticket from Dinanagar seat, joined BJP with his supporters in Pathankot on Sunday.
“There is not going to be any impact on the prospects of our candidate Major General (Retd) Suresh Khajuria in the Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll because of some people leaving the party,” Mann said.
“It is the voters who are to decide the fate of the contestant in any election,” he said.
AAP’s state unit president refused to acknowledge that the switchover by its leaders and workers to other political outfits was a “setback” to the AAP as claimed by the BJP and Congress.
“It was good that those, who were greedy for some posts and not following the party’s ideology, left on their own. They were complete misfit in the party’s structure,” he said adding that it was the organisation which is supreme.
A comedian-turned-politician also rubbished Chinna’s allegation that Mann has transformed the AAP into a “private company” as “baseless”.
Mann said that Khajuria was an honest man and he had served the country for several years. “All the party leaders and workers are holding nukkad meetings in Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency to ensure Khajuria’s victory in the bye-election,” he said.
Replying to a question, Mann said that it was not decided yet whether AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal will participate in the poll campaign ahead of the Gurdaspur byelection.
Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll, which was necessitated after the death of BJP MP Vinod Khanna in April, will be held on October 11.
Congress has fielded its state unit chief Sunil Jakhar while BJP has given ticket to businessman Swaran Salaria for Gurdaspur lok Sabha bypoll.