People want AAP to form govt in state: Bhagwant Mann

Punjab: People of Punjab are tired of giving chances to the Congress and the SAD for the last 44 years and now want the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to be in the saddle, says the party’s chief ministerial face Bhagwant Mann. The 48-year-old Mann, who is contesting from the Dhuri Assembly segment, also says that mafia raj, unemployment, inflation, drug menace and farm distress are some of the major issues facing the state and his party will work to solve them.

Mann has been declared as the chief ministerial candidate of the AAP after the party in Punjab held a first of its kind ‘Janta Chunegi Apna CM’ drive last month.

In the AAP survey to pick the party’s chief ministerial candidate, 93 per cent of those who called or sent messages to a party number chose him.

The comedian-turned-politician, who has a knack for connecting with the people with his repartee, is fighting from the Dhuri seat, which is one of the assembly constituencies of Sangrur Lok Sabha. Mann is a two-time MP from Sangrur parliamentary constituency.

With the AAP’s CM candidate Mann being nominated from Dhuri, this assembly seat has shot into limelight. “People gave at least 25 years to the Congress and 19 years to the Badal family. These parties could not do anything in the last 44 years and they still want one more chance. People are tired of giving them chances but these parties are not tired of seeking the same,” says Mann.

He says people of Punjab want change and are keen to see the AAP form the next government because they know that the party has delivered in Delhi and will serve them here as well.

Accusing rival political outfits of being hand-in-glove to prevent the AAP from forming the next government in Punjab, he said, “There will be a landslide victory for the AAP in the Punjab assembly polls”.

Hitting out at the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Mann says, “Parkash Singh Badal has to fight elections at the age of 94-year-old because his son (Sukhbir Badal) has not been accepted by people.”

He says the SAD patriarch will seek votes by saying for the third time that it is his last election. Former Punjab CM Amarinder Singh had in 2017 said it was his last election and now he is again contesting. “These leaders play with the emotions of the people,” says Mann targeting Badal and Singh. (PTI)