Kejriwal in Punjab, says party yet to find CM face

As Punjab gears up for the big political battle ahead in 2022, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) – a relatively new but important player in the state politics –seems to be sitting on the fringe, watching the turmoil unfold within Congress and its impact on the hustings.

Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday (September 30) refrained from declaring a chief minister candidate, an indication that the drastic changes happening in Punjab Congress could have a spill over effect on other parties. He was speaking at a media interaction in Amritsar on the concluding day of his two-day Punjab visit.

When asked if he thinks Navjot Singh Sidhu could join AAP, Kejriwal said, “It is a hypothetical question. If such a thing happens, we will let you know.”

Kejriwal also refrained from speaking much about Bhagwant Mann, the president of AAP’s Punjab unit, who is an aspirant for the party’s chief ministerial face in the Punjab polls. Kejriwal said that Mann is like “his younger brother”.

A few months back, when Kejriwal was in Amritsar, he said the party’s CM candidate will be from the Sikh community. However, he evaded answering who that Sikh would be.

On Thursday, when a media person said Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is presenting himself as an “aam aadmi” (common man), Kejriwal retorted: “It is easy to copy Kejriwal but it is difficult to implement.”

“When for the first time, my government was formed for 49 days, I had sent 32 officers involved in corruption to jail…. There are accusations that corrupt and tainted officers are being given big posts (in Punjab).

“Today, allegations are levelled that there are members in Channi’s council of ministers who are tainted… I want to tell him that besides copying Kejriwal, he should have the courage to take action,” Kejriwal said.

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Kejriwal said that when the party finds the right candidate, the CM nominee will be declared. “He could be anyone. Presently, we are not thinking about it,” he said.

On media reports that Bhawant Mann is “sulking” for not being projected as the CM ahead of the 2022 Punjab elections, Kejriwal said, “What you keep publishing in the newspapers, there is nothing like that.”

Bhawant Mann was seated beside Kejriwal during the press briefing.

To a question on local AAP leaders’ reported statements that farmers in Punjab should be penalised for stubble-burning, which causes pollution in Delhi, Kejriwal said, “Who said this? None of our leaders has ever said this. You show me the statement that any AAP leader has said this, I will quit politics. But do not spread lies….”

Kejriwal gave an example of how the Delhi government handled the stubble-burning problem. “We gave a solution. We have made a bio-decomposer. Farmers are in a hurry to sow the next crop, so they set stubble on fire. There is no fault of the farmers in this. It is the fault of the governments. What were they doing? Why did they not find solutions? But we do not indulge in the politics of blame game, we do the politics of finding solutions to problems,” he said.