Punjab AAP to go solo in Lok Sabha poll, official word awaited

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, January 23

The Aam Aadmi Party will contest the General Election independently in Punjab. The party is looking at fielding its senior leaders from all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies.

A top functionary in the party, requesting anonymity, has told The Tribune that the top brass in Delhi has conceded to the Punjab unit’s pleas of not having a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in the state.

Selection of nominees on cards

An exercise to identify three possible candidates from each seat will be initiated. The panel of three candidates will then be assessed by the party top brass along with a pre-poll survey on the electoral prospects of these candidates

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and most top state leaders have all along been opposed to the alliance with the Congress. This is because the ruling party has remained at pains to paint Congress leaders as corrupt.

The top functionary has said the state unit had reportedly conveyed to their top brass that joining hands with the Congress could prove to be their (political) undoing and would not go down well with their voters. It would also give the other opposition parties fodder to hit them back, in turn denting their political prospects in the Lok Sabha elections, he said.

Also, the state leaders had also told the top brass that the poll would be a litmus test for the party to judge its performance and could help it strategise in advance for the upcoming rural and urban local body poll, to be held after the election. The poll was crucial for the party to make a strong foundation at the grassroot level, which will be helpful in the next Assembly elections.

Sources in the party here have said the candidature of senior party leaders has also been evaluated at a meeting of the party top brass at Delhi last Saturday. The meeting was chaired by party supremo Arvind Kejriwal and was attended by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.

It has reportedly been decided that though AAP and the Congress are both members of INDIA, the ruling party will not go in for a pre-poll seat sharing with the Congress. This will also be conveyed to the other members of the alliance at their next meeting.

Sources in the state’s ruling party have told The Tribune that an exercise to identify three possible candidates from each seat will be initiated. A panel of three candidates will then be assessed by the party top brass along with a pre-poll survey on the electoral prospects of these candidates.

It is learnt that while senior party leaders, including a few ministers in the state government, could be asked to contest the parliamentary elections, the youth and women will be given importance in the poll.