Sacked AAP minister needles party over Punjab loss

Some in the Congress hope that the Punjab poll results will have a positive impact on the neighbouring states of Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, where the party was ousted from power in the last few years, in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The poll of exit polls for the 117-member Punjab assembly has predicted a too-close-to-call fight between Captain Amarinder Singh’s Congress and the debutant Aam Aadmi Party.

Mr Kejriwal accused the Congress of being in a tacit understanding with the Akali Dal. It was AAP’s anti-corruption crusade which took on the Badals and Congress leaders led by Captain Amarinder Singh. This campaign played a major role in uprooting the Akalis from the political landscape in Punjab.

From being hailed as the people’s Maharaja of the erstwhile princely state of Patiala to becoming a leader elected by the masses, Singh has come a long way.

The biggest setback for the Akalis was in the state’s Malwa belt, which accounts for 69 assembly seats, where people tilted towards the AAP. Phoolka distrusts both the BJP and Congress for dragging their feet over the issue of bringing justice to the victims of anti-Sikh riots. In the run up to the elections, Punjab was agog with rumours that Sukbhir Badal could be made chief minister if the party wins. “The struggle will continue”, the chief minister tweeted after the results. The large influx of NRIs, some of whom allegedly had Khalistani links, only added to the perception that AAP could not be trusted. Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal has defeated Congress’s Captain Amarinder Singh by 22,770 votes for the Lambi seat. But if the poll results of Assembly Elections are any indicator, it is nearly a shut case for AAP’s larger dream of a national footprint. But building a party from the grassroots in just two short years proved to be beyond the capacity of the Delhi CM. In the past, Mann has been attacked by political rivals for showing up at public rallies inebriated.

After Amarinder, Congress candidate and cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu won the polls with second highest margin of 42,809 votes.