Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann meets Arvind Kejriwal in Tihar jail; discusses Lok Sabha poll outcome

Chandigarh, June 12

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Wednesday met AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the Tihar jail in Delhi and discussed the party’s performance in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, party sources said.

It was the first meeting between Mann and the Delhi Chief Minister after the Lok Sabha poll results which came out on June 4.

Kejriwal is lodged in the Tihar jail in the excise policy-linked money laundering case.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Congress dealt a blow to the ruling AAP and the opposition BJP and SAD, winning seven of the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab even as two Independents registered a surprise victory.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) could manage to win three seats of ?Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib and Sangrur as against the target of winning all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in the just-concluded general elections.

The AAP recorded a vote share of 26.02 per cent in the general elections, up from 7.38 per cent in the 2019 parliamentary polls.

Meanwhile, one Assembly segment is going to fall vacant after MLA and Cabinet Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer’s election from the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat.

The party had fielded eight MLAs, including five Cabinet ministers, in the Lok Sabha polls but only Hayer could register victory.

The party is also getting ready for the bypoll to the Jalandhar West Assembly segment which will be held on July 10.

The byelection was necessitated following the resignation of Sheetal Angural as an AAP legislator.

Meanwhile, the AAP denied certain media reports pertaining to Cabinet reshuffle.

“There are rumors circulating that AAP in Punjab is going to reshuffle their ministers in response to recent loss in the general elections. We’d like to clarify that this information is false & is not coming from an official source, (sic)” said AAP Punjab general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat in a post on X.