Induction of former SIT chief aimed at getting foothold in Majha region

Ruchika M Khanna

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 21

The Aam Aadmi Party seems to be back in the saddle, as it embarks on a journey of inducting “eminent public and anti-establishment” faces in the party, with an eye on the Punjab Assembly elections due early next year.

With former IG Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh joining the party in Amritsar today, the symbolism and political narrative of the main Opposition party in Punjab, is not lost on anyone. Kunwar, who has served a long innings in the Majha region, was inducted into the AAP in the holy city of Sikhs. It is here that several hardline religio-socio organisations had recently honoured him for his investigation into the sacrilege issue.

Aman Arora, senior AAP MLA, said Kunwar’s induction would help the party establish itself in the Majha region, while creating a narrative of how a party “guilty” of sacrilege and the other which promised to punish the guilty, colluded to deny justice to the Sikhs.

Political observers feel that it is to support the ‘Panthic’ narrative that AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal declared that the party’s CM candidate in the 2022 elections would be a Sikh. Some others feel that these moves may help AAP politically, but not electorally.