Commoners now MLAs, thanks to AAP, says Mann

Sarbjit Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 14

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann today said the people of the state had given them the responsibility of playing the role of an effective Opposition.

Speaking to The Tribune, Mann said the party’s rivals should stop seeing the election results as a setback for AAP.

“AAP, which entered the political arena only three years ago, is the first party in the history of the state to become the main Opposition party by relegating the decades old Akali Dal to the third place,” said Mann, who is scheduled to fly abroad later this week to meet his friends, family and party well wishers.

“It is true that our supporters were expecting much better results, but people want to first test AAP as an effective Opposition. We will play this role to the satisfaction of people to ensure better results next time,” he said, while congratulating Capt Amarinder Singh and his party.

Mann said there were people who were saying that AAP did not brought about any change in the political culture of the state. “I want tell them that if a lineman, some teachers and other ordinary folks have been elected MLAs, it is because AAP chose them to contest the elections. We have set the ball rolling to make ordinary people play significant role in the state politics over which only a handful families have control for the past several decades,” he said.