Aam Aadmi Party lost in Punjab because of weak leadership, not naming CM candidate: Bhagwant Mann

Chandigarh: Daggers are out in the Aam Aadmi Party’s Punjab unit, with MP Bhagwant Mann slamming the party leadership for the drubbing it received in the recent state Assembly elections, stating that not naming a chief ministerial candidate cost them heavy. [caption id=“attachment_3406434” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Bhagwant Mann. CNN-News18[/caption] The Sangrur MP said the party should look within to find out the reasons which stopped its march to power in Punjab. Contrary to AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal’s stand, Mann said there was no use in finding fault with the electronic voting machines (EVMs). He also slammed the party leadership for “behaving like a mohalla cricket team”, and said AAP had committed a “historic blunder” in Punjab with regard to its overall electoral strategy. AAP state convenor Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi endorsed Mann’s remarks. “What Mann has said should be taken seriously by Arvind Kejriwal. The party convenor (Kejriwal) should speak to Mann to know why he thinks so,” he told PTI. He said the central party leadership has “failed miserably” to make contact with party activists at the ground level. The Kejriwal-led party won 20 seats in the 117-seat Punjab Assembly polls. The Congress registered a thumping win, securing 77 seats, while SAD-BJP managed to win 18. Mann, who contested unsuccessfully against former deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal from Jalalabad in the state polls, lamented that “over confidence” of certain leaders of the party high command spoiled AAP’s poll prospects in Punjab. He also hinted that all political options were open for him and he would take a call after returning from the US next month. “I have conveyed my feelings to (AAP convener) Arvind Kejriwal in detail and told him how the party high command was responsible for its defeat in the Assembly elections in Punjab, where people came in droves to take part in rallies and other programmes,” the AAP leader said. Meanwhile, posters of Kejriwal were found torn outside Mann’s house in Mohali on Wednesday. Reacting over the poor performance of the AAP in Delhi municipal polls, Ghuggi said, “AAP leaders have failed to take people in confidence.”