Sangrur, January 20: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, party leader Arvind Kejriwal announced on Sunday.
Delhi Chief Minister Kejriwal arrived in Punjab on Sunday to launch the party’s election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls with a rally in Barnala.
“People want a change. They are fed up with the Modi government. The BJP will lose in the Lok Sabha elections,” Kejriwal told the media in Sangrur. Kejriwal held a meeting at Sangrur’s PWD Rest House that saw Sangrur Member of Parliament Bhagwant Mann, Leader of Opposition Harpal Cheema, and AAP leader Aman Arora, among others, in attendance.
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At AAP’s Barnala rally, MP Bhagwant Mann said his drinking problem was now resolved. “I’ve shunned liquor,” Mann, who has faced criticism for his drinking problem—even on occasion coming to Parliament drunk—announced on stage.
Kejriwal applauded Mann for what he called his “sacrifice”. Addressing the rally, Kejriwal kept his speech focused primarily on Dalits, announcing more welfare schemes for them. The AAP has already announced the names of five candidates for Lok Sabha seat in October. These seats are Sangrur, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Anandpur Sahib. The AAP has retained two sitting MPs—Bhagwant Mann (Sangrur) and Sadhu Singh (Faridkot).
Punjab has 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. The AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats in Punjab in the 2014 General Election. AAP candidates in 2014 had put up a good fight in other constituencies also. The party could not win a single Lok Sabha seat anywhere else in the country in that election.
