With Bhawant Mann named AAP’s choice for Punjab chief minister, the party has signalled that it is heading into the assembly elections full tilt this time. The two-term MP is certainly AAP’s most recognisable local face in Punjab. The big question is whether he can muster the acceptability quotient which Congress’s Charanjit Singh Channi seems to have acquired in a short period.
AAP national convener and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal was under scrutiny over the delay in projecting a chief ministerial face in Punjab. Some opinion polls have projected that AAP could emerge the single largest party and this naturally led to worries about the absence of a local leader fronting the party’s campaign. With its strong identity politics, AAP risked local disquiet over Kejriwal, an “outsider” assuming the mantle of chief campaigner.
Some days ago, Kejriwal had said the people of Punjab would decide AAP’s CM which was interpreted to mean that the choice would be made post-elections. However, that left many questions unanswered, including whether Kejriwal feared an alternative power centre emerging within the party. So far no regional party has managed to grow a foothold in more than one state after the eclipse of the Janata Dal. The NCP experiment fizzled out with PA Sangma splitting from Sharad Pawar and forming the NPP in Meghalaya.
In AAP’s case the situation is complicated by Delhi’s national capital territory status, without control over police and land. An AAP CM in Punjab could emerge more powerful than Kejriwal and may not be keen to follow the central leadership’s diktats, which could pave the way for a split. Mann and Kejriwal have had their share of disagreements including Mann’s resignation as Punjab party head over Kejriwal’s apology to Bikram Singh Majithia in a defamation case. But if the two can secure a victory in Punjab and work together to showcase the party as a stable outfit across states without being prone to splits, both BJP and Congress will have to start worrying about the rise of another national party.
