Published Sep 07, 2023 | 12:38 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 07, 2023 | 12:38 PM
Anmol Gagan Mann (Centre) during a press meet in Chandigarh. (Supplied)
A day after Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema announced an impending tie-up with the Congress for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the AAP took a U-turn on Wednesday, 6 September.
Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Mann announced that her party would not tie up with the Congress in Punjab for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and fight on all 13 parliamentary seats in the state.
“There will be no alliance with the Congress in Punjab. It is the direction of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will not have any alliance with the Congress in the state,” she said while addressing the media.
It may be noted that even Congress leaders of the state have opposed any alliance with AAP.
The AAP and the Congress are both part of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), a coalition of the Opposition parties to take on the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the general elections.
At the national level, many political parties have joined hands against the BJP to save democracy.
On 1 September, the INDIA bloc in its Mumbai meeting resolved to contest the 2024 Lok Sabha polls together “as far as possible”, asserting seat-sharing arrangements in states will be concluded at the earliest in a “collaborative spirit of give-and-take”.
“The people of Punjab love Bhagwant Mann. Any kind of alliance with the Congress will not be tolerated. Several leaders (of the Congress) are facing (corruption) cases and we don’t tolerate it and we have even taken down our people who were accused of corruption,” the tourism minister said.
“We have the responsibility of the state in Punjab, and hence there will not be any kind of compromise. We will fight elections independently,” she asserted.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, speaking at another event, said that AAP had all the calibre to win on its own and make governments.
“We won 92 of the 117 Assembly seats in Punjab last year and people will again bless the party in the next elections. We have formed a government in Delhi three times and got a 13 percent vote share in Gujarat. We became a national party and have calibre to win on our won,” said Mann though not denying or admitting any alliance.
