AAP’s 2nd list for Punjab assembly polls is ready, but first still irks some
Even as fighting continues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over some names on the first list of candidates for the 2017 assembly polls, a second list is coming out by the weekend.
Even as fighting continues in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over some names on the first list of candidates for the 2017 assembly polls, a second list is coming out by the weekend.
The party’s campaign and screening committees met on Monday evening to clear potential candidates for another 12 to 15 seats. The political affairs committee headed by party convener Arvind Kejriwal will discuss the names in Delhi on Wednesday. The first list of 19 released on August 5 made the AAP first party to declare contenders almost six months before the contest.
The second list is likely to include Aman Arora from Sunam, moneybag candidate of the Congress from 2012. From Nabha, Canadian NRI Dev Mann is tipped to be named. Party’s Patiala zone in-charge Dr Balbir Singh is likely to be projected from Sanour, while Anu Randhawa, daughter of late Congress leader Jasjit Randhawa, might get the seat from Ghanaur. She moved to AAP in March after Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh apparently backed Madan Lal Jalalpur from Ghanaur. Harpal Cheema is likely candidate from Sangrur.
State AAP convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur, who differs with the first list, had skipped the press conference in which it was released, and later sought a meeting with Kejriwal for a review of some candidates. “I am awaiting a response. I’ll meet him when he calls me,” said Chhotepur. His aide Hardip Singh Kingra, a former bureaucrat, had quit the party before the first list came out, Party volunteers protested at several places after the list came out.
Read: Phoolka, youth wing chief, ex-BSP MP on AAP first list of 19 for Punjab
In Sahnewal, the party suspended three volunteers for opposing the candidature of the party’s youth wing president, Harjot Singh Bains. After his name was declared, they had carried placards saying: “Harjot Bains go back.” Last week, volunteers from Ludhiana South sought a review of the candidature of Ahbaab Singh Grewal, alleging corruption in the gathering of party fund. Ticket aspirants from SAS Nagar have resolved not to support Himmat Singh Shergill.
At Payal, party men burnt an effigy of candidate Gurpreet Singh Lapran. Arjuna Award recipient and former international basketball player Sajjan Singh Cheema, chosen to contest from Sultanpur Lodhi, also faces protest. In Talwandi, party workers have threatened to field a parallel candidate against AAP women’s wing leader Baljinder Kaur, in case she is picked. She is accused of usurping land. In March, the party workers sent a complaint against her to the AAP leadership in Delhi.