Pegging up campaign: AAP on a high in Punjab as Bhagwant Mann is its CM face

Finally, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has named its chief ministerial candidate. Bhagwant Mann, the comedian-turned-politician, will become Chief Minister if AAP gets sufficient seats to form the government. Opinion polls indicate that AAP will get enough seats to form the next government.

It is expected that Mann’s candidature would give AAP an edge over rivals. Although Kejriwal has named Mann as the CM candidate, it is known fact he always had an eye over the position. Being the Chief Minister of Delhi, which is not even a state and always one has to remain at the mercy of centre for everything.

The question many ask is will Mann’s candidature will get votes for the party. No doubt that Mann is popular among the youth. But he has had his share of controversies. His penchant for ‘pegs’ earned him the sobriquet ‘Pegwant Mann’. Videos abound of Mann’s videos of his walking unsteadily fully drunk. There are videos of him speaking in Parliament drunk. Once even Prime Minister Modi pulled his legs over his drinking habit. His unabated alcoholism allegedly upset his family life and his wife had divorced him in 2015.

 

Mann has always denied that he was a drunkard. He calls himself a ‘social drinker’ who always stays within limits and control. But nobody take it seriously.

 

The assembly polls in Punjab are scheduled to take place in a single phase on February 20. The votes will be counted on March 10. In the 2017 Punjab assembly polls, the Congress won a majority by bagging 77 seats and ousted the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)-Bharatiya Janata Party government after 10 years.

The AAP emerged the second-largest party winning 20 seats in the 117-member assembly. SAD could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP bagged three seats.

Mann was tipped to be AAP’s CM face in 2017 as well but the party didn’t announce the name. Many say the decision cost AAP the elections. In December 2021, Mann alleged that a senior BJP leader offered him money and a place in the Union Cabinet to join their party ahead of the Punjab elections.