CM Mann to complete five-year tenure: Kejriwal snuffs out change-of-guard buzz

Aam Aadmi Party national convener Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday put to rest speculation around a possible change of guard in Punjab by asserting that Bhagwant Mann would complete his five-year tenure as the Chief Minister.

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The former Delhi Chief Minister also acknowledged drugs and corruption as major challenges in Punjab, where his party has been in power for the past three years, and vowed to eradicate these under Mann’s leadership.

Kejriwal, who was in Amritsar after completing his 10-day Vipassana at Hoshiarpur, rallied behind Mann after reportedly holding discussions with state leaders. AAP leaders from Delhi had already given their assessment to Kejriwal about the only state ruled by the party now.

There had been speculation of a Cabinet reshuffle in Punjab with a woman MLA being brought in on an important assignment. There was further buzz over AAP’s Ludhiana West candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora being given a Cabinet berth and an important portfolio.

Kejriwal, with Mann by his side in the holy city this afternoon, brushed the conjecture aside, saying: “Mann will complete his five-year tenure as the CM of Punjab and will also be the CM for the five years thereafter.”

Ever since AAP’s defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, several party leaders, eyeing a bigger role in the Punjab Government, had started flexing political muscle, creating confusion within the civil and police apparatus, thereby impacting governance.

With AAP supremo’s nuanced focus on ensuring an ideal governance model in Punjab for his own national political ambitions to take wing once again, the announcement clears any ambiguity vis-à-vis the chain of command in the state and also paves the way for a better implementation of policies and schemes.

Kejriwal, perhaps realising that the next big political battle will be the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections slated later this year, also visited the residence of Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar, former minister and president of the Chief Khalsa Diwan. Nijjar was removed from the Cabinet last year.

The AAP leader stayed at Nijjar’s residence overnight and later visited Dr Ajay Gupta, whose outburst against the party had created ripples last year, in an attempt to woo them.

Kejriwal referred to the party’s focussed drive against the drug menace and corruption, saying he had come to the holy city to “… seek the blessings of Guru Maharaj in AAPs efforts to eradicate these”.

“If three crore people of Punjab come together, we will overcome these challenges,” he said as he visited the Golden Temple. The AAP had come to power with the slogan of eradicating corruption and curbing the sale of narcotics.

CM Mann said his government was committed to the war against corruption and drugs.