The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday said that its national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal would visit Punjab on a two-day trip beginning Wednesday where he is expected to make “big announcements.”
Kejriwal would visit Ludhiana on Wednesday, where he would meet with the businessmen and industrialists in the evening and on Thursday, he will hold a press conference during which he is expected to make the announcement. Party leader and Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha also confirmed that Kejriwal would make his announcements during his trip to Punjab. “Chief Minister of Delhi Sh. @ArvindKejriwal will be on a two day visit to Punjab, starting tomorrow. Stay tuned for big announcements!,” Chadha tweeted.
The party is yet to announce a chief ministerial candidate for the state assembly polls next year. Recently, Chadha said that the CM face would be someone who would be from Punjab and somebody who could be called the ‘pride of Punjab’, news agency PTI reported.
The visit has been announced as Punjab is scheduled to go to polls for its state assembly early next year. During his previous visit to the state earlier in June this year, Kejriwal promised that his party, if voted to power in the state, would provide 300 units of free electricity to each household and also assured that pending bills would be waived off.
As soon as the AAP government is formed in the state, we will ensure free power and write off all pending bills of consumers of domestic supply category with the first stroke of pen,” Kejriwal said on June 30, HT had reported. “The 24-hour supply will require strengthening of the distribution network and may take three to four years,” he added. He also said that his government has done this in Delhi and it could be replicated in Punjab if his party wins the polls.
Punjab is not the only state where the AAP chief has made such promises. Kejriwal has earlier assured that his party would fulfill the same promises on electricity in Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Goa, all three states where assembly polls would be held in 2022, during his visits to the states previously. In addition, the AAP is also looking to expand its presence in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, again set for assembly polls next year, where the party has announced it would contest from all seats. Senior party leader and Delhi’s deputy CM Manish Sisodia is scheduled to visit Gandhinagar, Gujarat, on Wednesday.Meanwhile, the ruling Congress in Punjab has been hit by a series of changes with the latest being the party’s state unit chief Navjot Singh Sidhu quitting his post on Tuesday. The AAP has criticised the state government with party leader Chadha saying,“Complete and absolute state of anarchy in Punjab Congress.” He questioned how could the people of Punjab expect the “selfish leaders” to provide a “stable, progressive and inclusive” administration and also asked how can the state, which shares a 550 km-long border with Pakistan, be trusted with the party.
