Kejriwal’s arrest delays AAP’s second list; likely after March 31
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had declared on March 21 that his party will announce the names of its candidates for the remaining five parliamentary seats in next five days, but there is no sign of the second list of candidates
Chandigarh
The announcement of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates for five of the 13 seats in Punjab has got delayed following the arrest of the party’s national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Delhi excise policy case.
Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann had declared on March 21 that his party will announce the names of its candidates for the remaining five parliamentary seats in next five days, but there is no sign of the second list of candidates. The number of seats for which the AAP now needs to pick candidates has also gone to six as its sitting MP from Jalandhar, Sushil Kumar Rinku, who was again fielded from the same constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha election, has jumped ship to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The AAP is still to announce its candidates from Anandpur Sahib, Gurdaspur, Ferozepur, Ludhiana and Hoshiarpur.
The declaration of candidates for the remaining seats has got delayed due to the protests and other developments that followed the Delhi chief minister’s arrest last week, two senior party leaders said. Kejriwal was arrested by the ED just hours after Mann, who also heads the AAP’s state unit in Punjab, made the announcement on social media regarding the second list of candidates. The leaders said that senior leadership of the party has been busy dealing with the present situation and making preparations for the March 31 rally of the INDIA bloc against the arrest, and other protests.
One of the leaders quoted above said the political affairs committee (PAC), the highest decision-making body of the party, would meet after March 31 to finalise the names of candidates and plan the future strategy. The names would be announced in all probability thereafter, he said on condition of anonymity.
When contacted, AAP’s state chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang also said the party leaders are busy with the Sunday rally. “The candidates will be announced thereafter. As far as I know, the PAC has already discussed these seats,” he said.
The AAP had taken the lead among all political parties in Punjab by announcing its candidates for eight constituencies. The candidates include NRI affairs minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal from Amritsar, transport minister Laljit Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, sports minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur, agriculture minister Gurmeet Khudian from Bathinda, health minister Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala, former MLA Gurpreet Singh GP from Fatehgarh Sahib and Karamjeet Anmol from the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency.
Meanwhile, the state unit of the AAP is actively mobilising its supporters for the opposition bloc’s “maha rally” scheduled for Sunday. Principal Budh Ram, the AAP’s state working president and MLA from Budhlada, said that party office-bearers and MLAs are engaging in outreach programmes in their areas to ensure maximum participation. “I am holding meetings at three places, including Mansa and Budhlada, today to ensure maximum participation,” he said. The party has set a target of gathering one lakh people from Punjab for this event. Mann, who held a meeting with the party MLAs on Sunday, had asked them to mobilise people from their areas for the Delhi rally.
