Punjab polls: AAP to reveal CM face soon, says Bhagwant Mann post meeting with Kejriwal

The Aam Aadmi Party's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls will be announced soon, said party's Punjab unit chief Bhagwant Mann on Sunday. He was speaking to reporters in Delhi after meeting with AAP convenor and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal to discuss issues related to the 2022 Assembly elections.

"It was a positive meeting with CM. All the MPs and MLAs were present at the meeting. We had a detailed discussion on our blueprint for (Punjab) elections. We tried to focus on the old loopholes that caused backdrop and how we can overcome them this time," Mann said.

"We all have seen what all the other two governments did for Punjab. Unlike them, our focus is to see what good we can do for the people," he added. 

Mann went on to say that some 'big announcements' would be made in the next few days and a CM face for Punjab to be announced soon. Last week, the AAP leader confirmed that his party will contest solo in the assembly polls. 

During his visit to Punjab in June, Kejriwal had announced that the AAP's CM face for Punjab polls will be from the Sikh community. AAP faces Congress, BJP, and the Akali Dal-BSP combo in the February 2022 elections.

Punjab elections

In 2017, Congress which had roped in poll strategist Prashant Kishor won an absolute majority with Captain Amarinder Singh, by winning 77 seats and ending the 10-year reign of the SAD-BJP government. The AAP has now emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP secured 3 seats. 

Recently in February, Congress strengthened its hold on Punjab winning six of the eight municipal corporations and majority of the 109 municipal councils and Nagar Panchayats, as per reports. Overall, Congress won 1,373 of the 2,218 seats that went to the polls, followed by the SAD (285), AAP (60), BJP (49), and BSP (5). Independents won 392 seats. AAP which had won 4 seats and a 25% vote share in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was reduced to just one seat in 2019.

(With inputs from agency)