A lot at stake, AAP keeps ‘ace campaigner’ Punjab CM Mann for last two campaigning days

It is not usual in the state for any CM to campaign in the municipal elections. Former CM Captain Amarinder Singh didn’t not campaign in civic body polls and had left the job for his juniors in the party. Even former CM Parkash Singh Badal chose not to campaign as CM for MC elections. It was his son and deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal who campaigned extensively during the municipal elections.

The fact that Mann would be out campaigning is indicative of how seriously the ruling party has taken these local elections. The AAP had lost the Lok Sabha elections in Patiala, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Jalandhar and had won Hoshiarpur and Phagwara, both parts of Hoshiarpur Lok Sabha constituency. Sources said that Mann is an avid and charismatic campaigner. “Barring Mann, the party does not have many faces. Apart from Mann, AAP’s newly appointed state president Aman Arora and working president Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi will also accompany Mann,” the source said.

Arora is already on the ground and has been campaigning for the party. The party has even then decided to bring Mann on the last two days. Mann had earlier held a meeting of party workers and leaders from all the corporations. He had asked them to mark every voter and ensure a grassroots connect. He had told them to take the policies of the government and its flagship schemes like free power and aam aadmi clinics to every household.

CM’s entry into the poll-bound corporations is coming after the AAP faced allegations of having used “excesses” to not allow rival parties candidates to file nomination papers. A video from Patiala in which a woman BJP candidate’s nomination papers were being snatched and taken away had gone viral. The election is being watched as the AAP is facing important elections in Delhi after the municpal elections in Punjab. “They will be able to showcase Punjab’s results in Delhi elections also. It is important for the party to win these elections. If they lose, then it will not look good ahead of Assembly elections in Delhi,” a party leader said.