The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) would contest all the 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab as well as the sole seat of Chandigarh and would be declaring all its candidates’ names in the next 10 to 15 days, the party national convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said in Punjab on Saturday.
Though his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann had also made a similar statement a few days ago, Kejriwal’s announcement seems to have put an end to all speculations of its truck with the INDIA bloc in the state.
Kejriwal's statements
Addressing a gathering held to mark the launch of the 'doorstep delivery' of ration scheme under National Food Security Act, in Khanna town of Punjab’s Ludhiana district, Kejriwal said that the people of Punjab had made history by giving 92 out of total 117 assembly seats two years ago.
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"I have come to you with folded hands asking for one more blessings for upcoming Lok Sabha elections – Punjab has 13 seats and one from Chandigarh – a total of 14 seats - and you have to make AAP sweep all these 14 seats’’, he said and added that his party would declare the names of its candidates for all these 14 seats in the next 10 to 15 days.
Elaborating upon the scheme, Mann said that the people would no longer have to make rounds of the fair price shops for the ration supplies as they would now get the same at their doorstep.
Mann slams the opposition
He also launched a scathing attack on the Congress, the main opposition party in Punjab, saying that it had lost its ground in the state as it had been divided into several factions.
Taking on the rival Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), he termed it to be a non-player and its currently on "Punjab bachao yatra" as "Parivar Bachao Yatra" by the SAD chief Sukhbir Badal. Mann also came down heavily on the BJP saying that it had brought farm laws and a number of farmers had died during their protest against the same.
Meanwhile, conspicuously enough, while the two parties had traditionally been rivals of each other in Punjab and Delhi, the two had joined hands as INDIA bloc constituents for the recently held controversial Chandigarh mayoral polls which smacked of grave irregularities at the behest of the BJP. This alliance for the said election was also seen as indicative of possible alliance between the two parties in Punjab.
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