Aam Aadmi Party’s national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal Tuesday named Bhagwant Mann as the party’s chief ministerial candidate for the Punjab Assembly polls to be held next month.
Kejriwal said that the AAP received more than 21 lakh responses from people during its campaign to elect its CM face. He added 93 per cent of the respondents, apart from those naming him, chose Mann.
Making an emotional speech after being named as the chief ministerial face in Punjab by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann said there is a lot of hard work to be done to form the government.
Even after forming the government, everyone should work towards making Punjab a “better place” better where no “chamchas” will rule but the people would call the shots, he urged.
Thanking everyone for praying for him, Mann said a dual responsibility has been put on his shoulders as he has been named not only by the party but also by the people of the state. “Earlier when I used to meet people across Punjab they used to laugh after seeing me (referring to his works as a comedian) but now they weep and beg that Punjab be brought back to its pristine state of yore,” he said.
The state president of the AAP said many sections of the society are today sitting on protests atop mobile towers and water tanks in the state and their demands have to be addressed. “The pen of those in authority should work for the welfare of the people of the state. We have been made to see enough dreams about making Punjab into Paris but all that we want is to make Punjab what it was,” he said.
He also urged the party supporters not to get disappointed by any happenings in the run-up to the polls and after. Quoting Punjabi poet Surjit Patar and South African anti-apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, Mann urged them to work towards a “better Punjab”.
Earlier, Mann’s sister Manpreet Kaur and his mother Harpal Kaur spoke thanking the party for reposing the trust in him and said that he would work hard to make Punjab a better place.
Meanwhile, Arvind Kejriwal to declare the party’s CM candidate for Goa at a press conference in Panaji tomorrow, January 19
