AAP gets going in Gurdaspur, names 3 candidates

Party banking on free power promise | SAD, Cong struggle to find feet

BQ: Learnt from mistakes

This time will be different from the last Assembly poll when we put up a disjointed effort. We have learnt from our mistakes,” said Amarpal Singh Kishankot, AAP leader

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, July 29

In Gurdaspur district, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was defeated in all seven seats in the 2017 elections, but this time, it is getting its act together much in advance even as the Congress is busy trying to set its house in order while the SAD-BSP alliance is struggling to find its feet.

Leaders claim they do want an encore of 2017 to happen. “This time will be different from the last Assembly poll when we put up a disjointed effort. We have learnt from our mistakes,” said Amarpal Singh Kishankot, AAP halqa in charge of Sri Hargobindpur seat.

The party has already announced 48 halqa in charges. It has made it clear that all of them will be given tickets. The next list is expected to be released in mid-August. In Gurdaspur district, AAP has declared its candidates on three seats. They are Amarpal Singh Kishankot (Sri Hargobindpur), Sherry Kalsi (Batala) and Balbir Singh Pannu (Fatehgarh Churian). Of these three, only Kishankot had contested the last Assembly poll and had secured an impressive 25,000 votes. In Batala, Kalsi has replaced former state president Gurpreet Singh Ghuggi while in Fatehgarh Churian, Gurvinder Singh Shampura has made way for Pannu.

AAP leaders claim the Opposition parties were misleading voters by claiming that Arvind Kejriwal had promised 300 units of free electricity and anybody using more than that will have to cough up the entire bill.

“This is simply not true. In Punjab, the billing cycle of electricity consumption is two months. This, in effect, means that Kejriwal has promised 600 units of free power. Anybody using more than that, even if it means one unit more than 600, will have to pay the entire amount. Opposition parties are misleading people saying just 300 units had been made free. Actually, 600 units have been made free,” said Kishankot.

“The ‘Kejriwal-Ka-Guarantee card’ is not a manifesto. The first point in the card will be that AAP will provide 600 units of free electricity every two months. Similarly, other promises will be listed. Such cards were distributed successfully in the run up to the 2020 poll in Delhi,” said a halqa in charge.