CM face: Bhagwant Mann’s home seat Sangrur welcomes AAP decision
According to Arvind Kejriwal, 93% people who responded to the party’s survey for its CM face showed confidence in Sangur MP and Punjab AAP chief Bhagwant Mann
People in Sangrur, the home constituency of Bhagwant Mann that is represented by him in the Lok Sabha since 2014, have welcomed the Aam Aadmi Party’s decision to field the humorist-turned-politician as its chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab assembly elections scheduled next month.
Mann, 48, who has won two consecutive parliamentary elections from Sangrur and is the lone Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader in the present Lok Sabha, belongs to Satoj village in Sunam tehsil of Sangrur. According to AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister (CM) Arvind Kejriwal, 93% respondents in the party’s survey for its Punjab CM face showed confidence in Mann, who is also the state AAP chief.
Also read: Meet the Mann of the moment
“We are very happy, as all our phone calls (survey responses) were in favour of Bai’s (brother’s) name. He was already the AAP’s face, and the people of the state will vote in his name,” said Lakhbir Singh, a resident of Satoj village, where the announcement was streamed live on a big screen. “All residents are celebrating the moment. Punjabis will vote for Mann,” said Jasvir Singh, another local.
Nirmal Singh, a resident of Nagra village in Sangrur, said the AAP and Bhagwant Mann are synonymous in Punjab. “It is like giving ‘Ik mauka Bhagwant Mann nu’ instead of ‘Ik mauka Kejriwal nu’,” he said, referring to the AAP campaign seeking “one chance to Kejriwal” in the Punjab elections.
‘In AAP, no campaigner like Bhagwant Mann’
Historian Sumail Singh Sidhu, who was the AAP election campaign committee convener in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, said the party has no campaigner like Mann and it wanted to cash in on his popularity.
“The AAP can’t afford to antagonise Mann in polls. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann have their own followers. However, the Punjab unit is bigger and more influential as compared to the Delhi unit. The party tried to find a face to counter Mann, but he was selected after rejecting all other faces. Mann is still following the party’s national policy, and will have to face challenges in future when time comes to choose between it and Punjab’s stance,” said Sidhu.
Aman Arora, state legislator from Sunam and senior AAP leader, said Punjab’s people will back Mann and the party. “Though some names were discussed, it was a very good decision at the appropriate time. Mann aggressively raised Punjab’s issues in the Parliament, because of which the party high command, workers and people showed confidence in him,” said Arora.