Arvind Kejriwal to meet Bhagwant Mann, Punjab AAP MLAs today after Delhi drubbing
Less than five days after AAP’s crushing defeat in the February 5 Delhi Assembly elections, party chief Arvind Kejriwal will meet Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and MLAs today amid buzz of a potential rift within the party’s Punjab unit.
Currently, Punjab is the only state where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is in power. Following the severe drubbing at the hands of the BJP in the Delhi polls, the AAP will now have to start preparing for its next best test in Punjab, which goes to polls in 2027.
The AAP, which came to power in Delhi in 2013, managed to retain only 22 out of the 70 Assembly seats, while the BJP secured a thumping victory by winning 48, paving the way for its return to the capital after 27 years.
During the meeting today scheduled to take place at the Kapurthala House in New Delhi, Kejriwal will personally give thanks to the Punjab AAP leaders for their contributions towards the Assembly polls, sources said.
A vote of thanks will also be passed, while the party chief is set to discuss the election results, as well as early preparations for the Punjab polls. Speaking about the meeting, AAP MP Malvinder Kang told news agency ANI that “feedback is being taken from to form a future strategy’ for the party.
“It is an organisational meeting to prepare the next strategy,” he said without any further details. The MP further said the party has accepted the people’s mandate in the national capital, adding that “we did our best in the last 10 years to make Delhi better and give a good government and this fight will continue”.
Just a day before the Delhi election results were declared on February 9, Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa claimed that the Punjab Chief Minister could switch to the BJP as he was in contact with the Union Home Ministry.
Bajwa also alleged that some 30 AAP MLA’s from Punjab were also in touch with him, hinting at a possible exodus.
“Whenever this Maharashtra plane lands in Chandigarh, the first passenger who will become Eknath Shinde would be Bhagwant Mann,” the Congress leader said in an exclusive interview with India Today News Director Rahul Kanwal, while suggesting a growing rift between Mann and Kejriwal.
Bajwa further claimed that there was a possibility of Kejriwal contesting from Ludhiana, which is currently vacant, and joining the Punjab government.
In the 2022 Assembly elections in Punjab, the AAP wrested power from the Congress by winning 92 of the 117 seats. The Congress won 18 seats, while the Shiromani Akali Dal has three MLAs.