Raghav Chadha pitches for Congress pact, CM says AAP will go it alone in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, January 16

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and AAP senior leader Raghav Chadha have struck a discordant note over the possibility of an alliance with the Congress ahead of the 2024 General Election.

Will contest independently

The party will contest the LS poll independently in Punjab. We will field our own candidates on all 13 seats. — Bhagwant Mann, Chief Minister

India bloc A strong force

The pact between the two will be from ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari’. When INDIA bloc contests poll, we will be formidable force. Raghav Chadha, AAP MP

While the pact between AAP and the Congress for the mayoral poll in Chandigarh has opened the possibility of an electoral truck between the two members of the INDIA bloc in the state, Mann, at a private function, today said the party would contest the Lok Sabha election independently in Punjab and field its own candidates on all 13 parliamentary constituencies.

Earlier in the day, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha had stated that the alliance between the two sides would be from ‘Kashmir to Kanyakumari’. “When INDIA bloc contests poll together, we become a formidable force,” he said.

Sources close to Chadha said the party top brass was trying to stitch the alliance in larger national interest to challenge the BJP-led NDA.

This statement was perceived as a message by the party leadership and MLAs here that the alliance was inevitable, until the CM made contradictory statement.

In another event organised to hand over cheques to sportspersons who proved their mettle in the Asian and National Games, Mann took potshots at the Congress. He said, “Pata hi nahin lagda kaun kis de quota chon leader baneya. Koi ehna chon Rahul Gandhi de quotay da, koi Priyanka Gandhi de quotay da, koi Sonia Gandhi de quotay da. Eh tan assin haan, jo lokan de quotay de haan.”

Without taking any names, he also referred to a leader who allegedly “ran away from taking over the reins of the Power Department” during the Congress government and said he was now organising rallies and making baseless claims related to the takeover of a private thermal plant by the AAP government.

The state unit of AAP has been opposed to the alliance as they have been trying to paint the Congress leaders “corrupt” and initiated probe against several leaders after coming to power in 2022.

“Going in for an electoral truck with the Congress will send a wrong message to our voters who may jump the ship,” said a senior party leader.

AAP chief spokesperson Malvinder Singh Kang said the party high command would soon decide on how the poll would be contested in the state.