Image credits: TOI
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced today that its national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is going to visiting Punjab’s Amritsar city on Monday. This may be second visit to Punjab this year, where assembly elections are due in 2022.
“AAP National Convenor and Delhi CM Shri Arvind Kejriwal to go to Punjab tomorrow. Punjab wants change!” the AAP tweeted. Former military officer Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh is probably going to hitch the AAP in Kejriwal’s presence, people conscious of the party’s plans told Hindustan Times.
Kejriwal’s visit on Monday comes as his party suffered a huge setback after Punjab Ekta Party, led by former AAP leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, decided to hitch hands with the Congress on June 17. Khaira was a member of the Congress first but later switched to the AAP in 2015.
Arvind Kejriwal had previously visited Punjab in March this year, when the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s three new farm laws was at its peak. Addressing to Maha Kisan Panchayat in Moga, Kejriwal accused the Congress-led government in Punjab of not fulfilling any of the poll promises it had made before the 2017 elections.
Kejriwal said that, “In the run-up of the 2017 assembly polls, Captain Amarinder Singh had made several promises. But after assuming power for over four years, the chief minister is unable to deliver on announcements including debt waiver for farmers, jobs, providing smartphones and unemployment allowance.”
Delhi CM also acknowledged during the Kisan panchayat that his party was an alternate to both the Congress and BJP and Punjab’s public should be ready for revenge from the Congress within the upcoming elections.
In the last assembly elections in 2017, the AAP was a primary timer in Punjab but it still managed to win 20 seats out of the entire 117. The Congress has won 77 seats and formed the govt in Punjab. While the National Democratic Alliance managed to win only 18 seats.