The Aam Aadmi Party, which won the Punjab elections convincingly four months back, is now fighting to maintain its image in the State. This is after the Bhagwant Mann government suffered a huge setback after it lost from the all-important Sangrur parliamentary constituency in the bypolls, which was also said to be their stronghold.
However, AAP seemed to play down the loss, and national spokesperson Sanjay Singh said that people’s ’emotions’ had taken over them in the elections.
“Sometimes people cast their votes driven by emotion. This is what happened there. Driven by emotion, people voted in favour of Simran Singh Mann,” Singh said.
‘Separate Land for Vidhan Sabha’
Another recent controversy that the Punjab CM found himself in was regarding his demand for a separate land in Chandigarh for a new Punjab Legislative Assembly premises. The Chief Minister put out a tweet to say that a piece of land in Chandigarh should be given for the Punjab’s Vidhan Sabha.
“I appeal to the central government that on the lines of Haryana, Punjab should also be allotted land in Chandigarh to construct its own assembly… There has been a demand for a long time that the Punjab-Haryana High Court should also be separated… for this also, please, the central government should provide land in Chandigarh,” he said.
This did not go down well with the opposition. Former Deputy CM of Punjab and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked Mann to immediately withdraw his statement, stating that the chief minister had ‘backstabbed’ Punjabis. He said Mann’s request for a piece of land to make a separate High court building for the state gave Haryana a chance to seek land for a separate Vidhan Sabha in the Union territory.
“The chief minister backstabbed Punjabis and poured cold water on their aspirations to regain Chandigarh, Punjabi speaking areas in Haryana and its river waters…Mann alone is responsible for the current crisis, which has threatened Punjab’s hold on Chandigarh,” Badal said.
‘Delhi in Control of Punjab’
AAP drove their whole election campaign on their ‘Delhi Model’ of Mohalla Clinics, Free Units of Electricity, among other schemes. However, the Delhi model is proving to be more of a bane than a boon post the Punjab elections, according to reports.
If political grapevine is to be believed, the Delhi model has only led to ministers in the capital having more power over Punjab. Angsty citizens are unhappy with Mann, whose popularity had been one of the main reasons behind AAP’s win, for being too dependent on Kejriwal and his coterie.
The AAP government in Punjab also is facing a lot of backlash on social media, which had earlier been one of the strengths of the party. It seems the image that the Kejriwal-Mann duo had created for themselves and the party is slowing starting to fade away.
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