New Delhi: AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday said that his party will announce candidates for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and the lone Chandigarh parliamentary seat within a fortnight. The Delhi chief minister, along with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, made the announcement while addressing a gathering organised for the "doorstep delivery" of the ration scheme of the Punjab government.
Reacting to the AAP chief’s announcement, the BJP said that Mr Kejriwal, who raised hue and cry for the INDIA bloc over the Chandigarh mayoral election, is bidding farewell to the Opposition bloc and ending the Congress’ hopes of winning some seats in Punjab and Chandigarh. The INDIA bloc is crumbling.
In clear indications that the AAP is unlikely to join hands with the Congress in Goa, Gujarat and Haryana, the political affairs committee of the party, after unilaterally fielding three candidates in Assam for the Lok Sabha polls, is all set to meet early next week to decide on its candidates for the aforementioned three states.
While the AAP and the Congress leadership are exploring alliance possibilities in the national capital, where the AAP is willing to leave three out of seven seats for the Congress, both parties have already made it clear that they will contest the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab separately.
Speaking at the Punjab event, Mr Kejriwal said, "Two years back you gave your blessings. Out of 117 seats, you gave the AAP 92 seats. You created history in Punjab. Today, I again seek your blessings for the Lok Sabha elections… In the coming 10-15 days, the AAP will announce its candidates for all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and one seat in Chandigarh. I request that you, the way you blessed us two years back, get the party to win all these 14 seats," said Mr Kejriwal.
The Delhi chief minister also praised the Mann government in the state, saying it did a "lot of work" in the past two years. "The Congress ruled for so many years. Tell me one good work that the Congress has done for Punjab. You will not name even one. Likewise, the Akali Dal ruled for so many years; tell me one good work the Akali Dal has done. You will not remember any," said Mr Kejriwal as he attacked the rival parties.
Calling it another jolt for the INDIA bloc, Delhi BJP chief Virendra Sachdeva stated that the public is not surprised by the breaking of ties between the AAP and the Congress. He said that the end of such opportunistic relationships is inevitable.
The BJP leader remarked that the Congress and the AAP are the two sides of the same coin, both with a history of deceit, having deceived the public and now they are deceiving each other. It's time for those Congress leaders who advocated for an alliance with the AAP in Delhi to contemplate whether they should separate from the AAP and start preparing for the elections or wait for rejection by the party led by Mr Kejriwal.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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