Want to focus on one job: Mann likely to quit as AAP Punjab chief

Tribune News Service

The Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab is likely to get a new state chief. Though the talk of a change in the state unit’s organisational structure has been doing the rounds for quite some time, the same was confirmed by CM Bhagwant Mann while campaigning at Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak on Sunday.

Pressure of 2 posts

It will be appropriate if I put in my papers as the state president so that I can completely focus on my role as the Punjab CM. Holding two posts adds to pressure. Bhagwant Mann, CM

Minister Aman Arora in the reckoning?

Sources in the Aam Aadmi Party said the top brass is considering bringing in a young, preferably Hindu, leader. The name of state minister Aman Arora is being considered, the sources said.

“Holding two posts adds to the pressure of working as CM. It will be appropriate if I put in my papers as state president so that I can completely focus on my role as Punjab CM,” he said. Mann was appointed AAP’s state chief in January 2019. He has been holding the dual charge after he became CM in March 2022.

The top brass is considering bringing in a young, preferably Hindu, leader. Party sources told The Tribune that the name of New and Renewable Energy Minister Aman Arora was being considered. Since AAP has already appointed six Dalit ministers, the party, as part of its social engineering, is keen on wooing the Hindu voters by appointing a member from the community as state chief.

There was a talk of appointing a new party president last year as well, but Mann apparently had his way and Budhlada MLA Budh Ram was then appointed as state working president alongside Mann.

Mann’s statement came on a day he returned from Delhi, where he met top party leaders. Not only does it signal that the AAP leadership led by Arvind Kejriwal is looking at keeping party’s organisation separate from governance, it is also being perceived as a leap towards setting the ball rolling for its 2027 Punjab elections by starting to infuse a new lease of life in the party’s organisational structure.

In a recent interview with The Tribune, party’s general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat had also hinted at change in the party’s state unit. He had said, “Change is always better, although it is the prerogative of national convener Arvind Kejriwal.”