NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party is giving a tough fight to the ruling Congress in the Punjab elections and the Arvind Kejriwal-led party is likely to gain with the announcement of party MP Bhagwant Mann as the chief ministerial face in the Malwa region, according to an internal assessment by the Congress.
The initial note a month before the scheduled polling showed that the party gained the people’s support by replacing Amarinder Singh with Charanjit Singh Channi as the chief minister but with Mann entering the fray for the top post, things are changing on the ground and it could favour the AAP in its stronghold in Malwa.
Mann is an MP from Sangrur that falls in the same region and the AAP had won 18 of the 20 seats in the last assembly elections from Malwa. The region has 69 of the 117 assembly seats. The AAP has fielded Mann from the Dhuri seat and he has challenged Channi to contest against him.
On the ongoing tussle between Channi and state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, the party’s assessment shows that it is not going down well with the people on the ground and the opposition parties are also leaving no stone unturned to use it while campaigning.
“The AAP is gaining ground fast in Punjab. Channi as the chief minister will help the party but with Mann projected as the CM, it is going to help the AAP,” Congress sources said.
The assessment also showed that the AAP was expected to gain in the Malwa region and that would help in the party balancing the party’s performance in the other two regions of Majha and Doaba.