The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday decided to bet on its trusted general Bhagwant Mann to win the electoral battle in Punjab, and named him as the party’s Chief Ministerial candidate.
Since 2014, comedian-turned-politician Mann has remained AAP’s face not only in Punjab but also in the national politics — being the only party MP to tide through the Modi wave that swept the nation in 2019 Lok Sabha polls. And the announcement of two-time MP from Sangrur as AAP’s CM face in Punjab did not come as a surprise to many.
AAP’s national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday announced Mann as “AAP da CM” in Punjab.
“A total of 21,59,437 people had expressed their opinion on the number released by AAP on January 13 for voting, and 93.3 per cent people voted for Bhagwant Mann as their choice to be Punjab’s CM... While 3.6 per cent people voted for Navjot Singh Sidhu as the second choice,” said Kejriwal while declaring Mann as AAP’s CM face in Punjab, amid thunderous cheers.
“Every Punjabi is proud of my younger brother Bhagwant Mann,” said Kejriwal, reminding the promise he made to the people to announce a CM candidate which will be a Sikh face and every Punjabi would be proud of.
Amid the demand to declare Mann as party’s Chief Ministerial candidate, the AAP has been looking for a suitable face. And in the process, it has get in touch with several prominent personalities. From Bollywood actor-cum-philanthropist Sonu Sood to Dubai-based hotelier and social activist SPS Oberoi, from renowned farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal to former diplomat KC Singh — various names went around, with AAP all along been claiming that there were no discussion with them.
There were also reports that some of the party leaders from Delhi are also nurturing the desire to occupy the CM’s chair. But, considering the fact that Punjab’s voters would not accept any “parachute leader” as CM candidate, the AAP did not mull over the same. In fact, in 2017 polls, when the AAP and even the poll analysts were confident of forming the government, the AAP bore the brunt of contesting the polls under Kejriwal’s leadership not projecting any Punjab’s leader as the CM face.
This time, the party decided to contest with its CM face, with Kejriwal also promising a respectable “Sikh face” which “every Punjabi would be proud of”. However, the delay and uncertainty over the same send a wrong signal within the party cadre, which also resulted in an exodus of sorts.
Despite Mann’s brush with controversies, particularly his alleged drinking problem, the AAP chose him as the party face considering his mass appeal, a proven crowd-puller, and massive popularity among all sections of the people — be it young or old.
“I had already excluded myself from the race of Chief Minister, but some people still suggested my name which we excluded.... Bhagwant is my younger brother, if I had declared him as the Chief Minister’s face myself, people would have said that I’ve chosen my brother as CM candidate. That’s why we started a new democratic tradition to elect the CM candidate. For the first time in the history of India, the people of Punjab have chosen their Chief Minister candidate,” said Kejriwal, making the announcement.