Malvinder Kang at it again: Why an AAP MP is taking on Mann government
AAP’s Anandpur Sahib MP has accused the Mohali civic body of "selective demolitions", alleges that those who paid bribes were spared
AAP Anandpur Sahib MP Malwinder Singh Kang has taken on the Bhagwant Mann government over various issues in the past too. On Wednesday, when Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Malvinder Singh Kang stood in Saini Majra and accused the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) of becoming a “centre of loot” and a “den of corruption”, he was doing more than taking on the bureaucracy. His remarks also put his own government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, in the dock.
Kang, the Anandpur Sahib MP alleged that shops in the village had been “selectively demolished”, claiming that officials spared some structures after “bribes were paid” while only those who could not pay were being targeted.
“I want to tell the CM through you that we have to stop this ‘dhakkeshahi (high-handedness)’. On one side, you are doing a good job for people and on the other side, GMADA is a den of corruption. Officials who have been posted for a long time in GMADA should be immediately transferred,” he said.
GMADA, however, said 57 unauthorised structures had been removed from five villages over two days after notices were issued and the stipulated notice period had expired.
The usual pattern
Kang’s intervention is in keeping with a pattern of speaking out on issues involving his own party and government.
Just months ago, after seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs, including Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, crossed over to the BJP, Kang went beyond defending the party and spoke about what he believed had gone wrong within it.
In an interview with The Indian Express, he said Chadha had been given “too much power” and that the party should have “kept a check on him”. He also pointed to a lack of communication between the party’s central leadership and its Punjab leaders and lawmakers. Pathak, he said, had told him that nobody from the party had contacted him for a year.
“Feedback was not reaching the right people, ground-level workers needed to be empowered and the party needed better coordination with its MPs, MLAs and ministers,” he had said.
The following day, Mann called Kang to his residence for a meeting.
Kang was also among the first AAP leaders to question the government’s land-pooling policy last year. He urged the government to listen to farmers with empathy and said trust would have to be earned before such a policy could take root. The policy was subsequently rolled back.
On illegal sand mining too, Kang has raised concerns while defending the Mann government. Earlier this year, he told senior AAP leaders that he had submitted a list of party leaders allegedly involved in illegal mining. He had also criticised police action against protesting farmers in Bathinda in February.
Kang’s willingness to take a stand predates his AAP years. In 2020, when he was Punjab BJP general secretary and a member of the party’s core group, he resigned from the party over the now-repealed three farm laws.
In his resignation letter, Kang said he had repeatedly raised the grievances of protesting farmers, arhtiyas (middlemen), small traders and labourers with the party leadership, but no positive steps had been taken.
He joined AAP in 2021, saying Punjab needed an alternative political force, accusing the traditional parties of having pushed the state into financial ruin.
Opposition hits out
Kang’s latest attack on GMADA has provided fresh ammunition to the Opposition.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa described Kang’s intervention as a “PR exercise”, questioning why the MP was addressing the Chief Minister through the media instead of simply meeting him.
“What a beautifully curated PR exercise!” Bajwa wrote on X, alleging that Kang’s remarks were an attempt to shift responsibility from the political leadership to government officials. He also questioned GMADA’s alleged role in facilitating facilities for AAP’s senior leadership, including the construction of a helipad for party supremo Arvind Kejriwal.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia also attacked the AAP government over Kang’s allegations, saying the problem was not confined to GMADA.
“GMADA has today become a centre of loot, but this is not just the condition of one department. It has now become the condition of the entire Punjab!” Majithia wrote on X. He added that if an elected MP had to announce a struggle against corruption, “imagine what the condition of an ordinary Punjabi must be”.
‘No dissent in AAP’
Kang, however, rejected the suggestion that his remarks reflected dissent within AAP. “I am not a rebel. I am an activist. I call a spade a spade. This cannot be taken as a dissent. We are Punjabis. We do not mince words,” he said.
Defending the Mann government, he added: “CM Mann’s government is doing commendable work. Such black sheep spoil the show.”
Share
