AAP's last-minute bid to re-win Punjab CM's bastion Sangrur

Vishal Gulati

Sangrur, May 30 (IANS) In a last-minute bid to re-win Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s bastion just hours before the campaigning for 13 parliamentary seats come to an end, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convenor Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday campaigned with the state counterpart for party candidate Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer here. 

Both led a road show with the AAP candidate from Sangrur and appealed to the people to make Meet Hayer MP with record votes with a message, “If we have 13 MPs from Punjab, then all of them will become Bhagwant Mann's hands and voice in the Parliament.”

Crowds participated in the roadshow and welcomed both the Chief Ministers at various places. Addressing the people, Kejriwal said Sangrur is the home constituency of Chief Minister Mann. “You have made him the Chief Minister. This time too we have a lot of expectations from you. Therefore, make AAP candidate Meet Hayer win here with the highest margin.”

Surprisingly in a setback to AAP in June 2022, just three months after coming to power, the two-time MP and former IPS officer, Simranjit Singh Mann, who has been demanding an independent homeland -- called Khalistan -- won the bypoll in the Sangrur parliamentary constituency.

Speaking at the roadshow amidst the blistering heat wave, Kejriwal said “You elect us with a record majority in the assembly elections. You gave 92 out of 117 MLAs to the Aam Aadmi Party. Now strengthen us in the Lok Sabha, so that we can easily get Punjab's work done from the central government and get all the pending funds of Punjab released”.

He said right now Mann has to fight alone with the BJP-led Centre and the Governor. “The central government is constantly harassing the Punjab government through the governor. If we have 13 MPs from Punjab, then all of them will become Bhagwant Mann's hands and voice in the Parliament and together with him, they will fight for the rights of Punjab. So this time strengthen the hands of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by electing 13 AAP MPs.”

Batting on the development plank, Kejriwal said two years ago “you formed an honest government in Punjab, due to which a lot of work is being done in every field in Punjab. For the first time, thousands of youth got government jobs without any bribe and recommendation. People are getting free electricity. Mohalla clinics and Schools of Eminence are being built. Many more important works are to be done in the coming days”.

He appealed to the people to press the ‘jharoo’ button this time for the progress and development of Punjab.

“This time, the Modi government is not repeating at the Centre, the INDIA bloc government will be formed with a huge majority, and Punjab will have the biggest share in it,” said Mann.

Thanking the people who were in the road show, he said the Opposition parties are not even getting paid people for their rallies. “On the other hand, people are coming to support us in our roadshow even when it is 50 degrees Celsius outside.”

Mann claimed it has become clear from the six phases of elections that this time the Modi government is not coming to the Centre.

Mann appealed to the people and said in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, “You made me win by about 2.14 lakh votes. I will be very happy when you break that record and make Meet Hayer win by 2.5 lakh votes. Then we will be able to work with more hard work and dedication”.

Addressing the people, AAP candidate Meet Hayer, who holds a Cabinet berth in the Mann government, said the people of Sangrur are standing with AAP.

“Wherever I go for the election campaign, people come in large numbers to support us. We will work day and night for the progress of Sangrur. Just like Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has done record work for Punjab in two years, similarly, I will work for the development of Sangrur as an MP,” he said.

Bhagwant Mann represents the Dhuri Assembly seat, while his Cabinet minister Meet Hayer is a legislator from Barnala -- both seats are part of the Sangrur parliamentary constituency.

Congress nominee Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the legislator from Bholath in Kapurthala, is giving a tough challenge to Meet Hayer.

Sitting MP Simranjit Singh Mann, who had won this parliamentary seat in 1999, is again in the fray. Banking on rural electorates, he’s mainly raising the issues concerning the Sikhs and is strict with the idea of Khalistan, a separate state.

From this seat, the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Sukhbir Badal fielded former legislator Iqbal Singh Jhundan, while former legislator and businessman Arvind Khanna is BJP’s candidate.

Political observers told IANS the contest is mainly among AAP, the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar).

All nine Assembly constituencies coming under the Sangrur parliamentary seat were won by the AAP MLAs with a record mandate in February 2022.

In 2019, Bhagwant Mann was the lone AAP MP in Parliament and he had defeated the then Congress candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon by more than 1.1 lakh votes.

The by-poll for Sangrur was necessitated following the resignation of Bhagwant Mann, who won the Assembly election in February from the Dhuri constituency and became the Chief Minister.

(Vishal Gulati can be contacted at [email protected])