CM Bhagwant Mann wants to relinquish Punjab AAP chief’s post

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Sunday said he would speak to the AAP leadership for appointing a full-time president of the party’s state unit, expressing a desire to step down from the post.

After addressing a rally in Chabbewal, Mann said he had been holding the post of party president in Punjab for seven years.

“Being chief minister, I have big responsibilities. I have 13-14 departments. I will speak to the party to appoint a full-time state unit chief so that the responsibilities can be divided,” he told a TV channel after the rally.

Mann was appointed AAP’s Punjab unit chief in 2017 when he was the MP from Sangrur.

Mann led the party in Punjab during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and the 2022 assembly polls. AAP stormed to power in 2022, winning 92 seats in the 117-member Punjab Assembly.

AAP appointed two-time MLA Budh Ram as the party’s working president in Punjab in June 2023.

Mann was on Sunday campaigning for AAP candidate Ishank Chabbewal in the Chabbewal constituency of Hoshiarpur district.

Bypolls to four Assembly seats—Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal and Barnala—will be held on November 13 and the results declared on November 23.

The bypolls were necessitated after the MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha.