Chandigarh, January 18
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today named Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann as the party’s chief ministerial candidate in Punjab. With this, AAP becomes the first political party to declare its CM face in the multi-cornered contest.
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Also, the party has put to rest speculations that Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is vying to be the Punjab CM. The move also consolidates the party cadre behind one leader and allays fears of the party brining a political “parachuter”.
AAP had started televoting to choose the party’s CM face on January 13. The voting lines closed yesterday. Announcing the result, Kejriwal said some persons had even voted for him as the CM face, even though he had declared that he was not a candidate. “An astounding 93.3 per cent of the voters favoured my younger brother Bhagwant Mann,”
he said. Soon after his name was announced, Mann’s supporters started rejoicing and dancing to the beat of dhols. Mann thanked Kejriwal for reposing faith in him. His sister Manpreet Kaur and mother Harpal Kaur, who were present on the occasion, thanked the people of Punjab.
PUNJAB POLL 2022: AAP picks Bhagwant Mann as CM candidate in Punjab
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