AAP to announce Punjab CM face on January 18

The Aam Aadmi Party will end the suspense on its Chief Ministerial face in Punjab on Tuesday where it hopes to unseat ruling Congress in the Assembly elections scheduled for February 20.

Delhi Chief Minister and AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal said on the sidelines of a function here that the name will be announced at 12 noon on Tuesday, as the party has completed its exercise to collect feedback from people.

Last Thursday, he had announced a mobile number for people of Punjab to suggest their choice for the Chief Ministerial face. The AAP said it received around 15 lakh responses on its ‘Janta Chunegi Apna CM’ (People will Choose their CM) drive.

He had then said that he wanted AAP MP Bhagwant Mann to be party’s face but the latter insisted that it should be done only after consulting the people and they should choose the leader.

However, there were indications that Mann wanted the party to declare himself as the face and there was tension within the party over this.

Learning from the 2017 Assembly election experience, Kejriwal had last June announced that AAP will choose a Sikh to be the Chief Minister.

AAP was initially considered as the front-runner in the 2017 polls but had to limit itself to 20 seats out of 117, with several attributing it to the party allowing the impression that a non-Punjabi, non-Sikh Kejriwal could lead the state.

It was also said that it lost the perception battle as several NRIs supported the party while its opponents used it as a weapon to allege Khalistani links.

Moving cautiously this time, Kejriwal has visited the state several times since last June and has announced ‘freebies’ like free power, an electoral promise that successfully propelled its electoral chances in the national capital.

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