New Delhi: Days after losing power in Delhi, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday conveyed to the party’s Punjab MLAs that his focus will now entirely be on retaining power in the state in the assembly polls due in two years.
At a meeting in Kapurthala House, the official residence of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann in Delhi, Kejriwal instructed the state unit to ramp up governance to be able to showcase the ‘Punjab Model’.
ThePrint has also learnt that Kejriwal instructed the MLAs to flag instances of bureaucratic roadblocks to him so that he can get work done.
Sources who attended the meeting told ThePrint that apart from delivering a pep talk to boost the MLAs’ morale, the leadership also wanted to use the occasion to send out a message that the AAP government in Punjab remains stable.
“We have 94 MLAs in the 117-member Punjab assembly currently. The Congress and the BJP have been claiming that there have been cracks in the AAP. At least 86 MLAs attended Tuesday’s meeting. A few couldn’t attend due to certain unavoidable circumstances. One MLA is battling cancer,” said an MLA who attended the meeting that lasted barely 30 minutes.
The MLAs, it is learnt, are likely to be called in batches over the next few months for separate meetings with the leadership.
Kejriwal left the meeting without facing media persons waiting outside Kapurthala House. The AAP leadership has in the past faced charges of interfering in the affairs of the Mann government.
‘Instability’ in Punjab
The meeting was seen as an attempt by the party to assert control and quell the speculation about instability within the Punjab government. Both Congress and BJP have suggested that AAP’s defeat in Delhi will lead to defections in Punjab, potentially destabilising the government.
Punjab Leader of the Opposition and Congress MLA Partap Singh Bajwa claimed Monday that 30 AAP MLAs were in touch with him.
Addressing a press conference after Tuesday’s meeting ended, Mann also dismissed speculation that he might be replaced as the CM in the days ahead. “Let them say whatever they want,” Mann said.
He also made light of Bajwa’s claim, saying the latter has been making such statements for the past three years.
“Instead of counting our MLAs, he should count the number of MLAs of his party in Delhi,” Mann said, taking a swipe at Congress drawing a blank in Delhi for the third time in a row.
Mann was flanked by Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema—popular Dalit face who is widely seen as a prospective deputy CM should that post be carved out—alongwith state party chief Aman Arora, Health Minister Balbir Singh among others.
Asked by a journalist if he was in touch with the Ministry of Home Affairs and planning to quit the AAP, Mann smiled dismissively. “Let them say what they want to. We built the party with our blood and sweat. We worked hard, went door to door across villages, towns. There is a culture (of switching sides) among them (Congress)…,” he said.
Cheema added that the Mann government would accelerate its development efforts in key sectors like education, healthcare, infrastructure, and business.
“In the next two years, we will strengthen the Punjab Model and present it to the entire country,” Mann declared, also affirming that the state’s law and order situation was strong and even superior to many other regions.
Sources said Cheema assured the MLAs that the Mann government would roll out the monthly Rs 1,000 financial assistance scheme for the women of Punjab “as soon as possible”.
However, the sources added that it was unlikely the scheme will have allocation in the upcoming annual budget of the state.
The inability of the Punjab government in implementing the scheme was prominently highlighted by the BJP during the Delhi polls to puncture the AAP’s claim that it will pay eligible women in Delhi Rs 2,100 per month in the event of its victory.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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