On Tuesday, Aam Aadmi Party announced Bhagwant Mann as its chief ministerial candidate before the Punjab Assembly elections scheduled in February. The verdict was announced days after the party opened telephone lines for Punjab people to suggest their preferred chief ministerial contender names.
AAP received about 22 lakh responses under its campaign to elect its CM face for the assembly polls.
While Addressing the event, Arvind Kejriwal, AAP national convener, said that many responses favored Bhagwant Mann as the party's chief ministerial candidate. At the same time, some also put his name forward as the CM face for Punjab elections. Around 3 percent of respondents named Punjab Congress unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu as AAP's chief ministerial candidate, Kejriwal added.
Twitter image: @BhagwantMann
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Arvind Kejriwal said last week that he wanted the unit chief party's state Bhagwant Mann as its Chief Minister for Punjab Assembly elections. The Sangrur MP demand that the decision should be left to people.
In the 2017 Punjab assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party went into the polls without declaring a chief ministerial candidate but failed to form a government. It won 20 seats and became the principal opposition in the state. This time, AAP national convener assured the voters that the party would announce its CM face ahead of the polls from early days.
Meanwhile, Congress has backed Punjab chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi as its CM face amid intense speculations. In a video by the official Twitter handle of Congress, actor Sonu Sood says the "real chief minister is the one who does not have to tell he is the chief ministerial candidate." Sood's remark was followed by several clips of Channi taking part in various events.
