Bhagwant Mann could have been declared AAP commander for February 2022 electoral battle in Punjab much earlier, not as last resort
Kejriwal provides
telephonic legitimacy to Bhagwant Mann as last resort choice of chief
ministerial face
Ground Zero
Jagtar Singh
Bhagwant
Mann, president of the Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab and MP, a few months back, appeared
to be embarrassment personified as sitting along his side, his party convener
and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal promised to people of this border
state that he would present them with an effective and some very prominent Sikh
as chief ministerial face for February
2022 Assembly polls.
The search
ended in futility.
The next
strategy was to project the last resort choice but this choice was sitting at
his side when Kejriwal had made that announcement.
A strategy in
the name of people’s choice was apparently worked out to provide legitimacy to
the last resort effort and it was decided to go in for telephone calls and the
exercise lasting couple of days ended last evening.
Bhagwan Mann
was expectedly announced as party’s chief ministerial face around noon today by
Kejriwal at a newly constructed hotel in Mohali.
The
announcement did not have even dramatic effect as it was too well known that it
was an exercise to cover up the damage that Kejriwal himself had inflicted by
misreading Punjab as he had done in 2017. This legitimacy exercise borders
farce but after all it has some pretence of functional democracy.
But then the
people don’t elect a chief minister but a party. Of course, the party needs a
commander while entering the election arena.
While announcing
the chief ministerial face, Kejriwal should also have assured the people of
Punjab that the MLAs would not betray them. The AAP had made big bang entry in
Chandigarh municipal corporation but was failed by one of its councillors who facilitated the BJP to get its nominee
elected as the mayor.
The Congress
had earlier given out a loud signal that
it would not opt for a chief ministerial face but indirectly projected Chief Minister Charanjit Singh
Channi under mounting pressure from its state party chief Navjot Singh Sidhu
who has vociferously been presenting himself as the likely choice of the
people.
The Congress
leadership in Delhi projected Channi as the leader by releasing a video that in
itself amounts to announcement, although informal a few hours before Kejriwal
made Mann’;s annluncement.
Now two
leaders at the front are the commoners- the aam aadmi.
Channi from
day one has been going around hammering his rise from the marginalised sections
of society to counter Kejriwal’s claim of his party representing the common
people. Both Mann and Channi can claim the heritage of the common man.
So is Balbir
Singh Rajewal from the Sanyukt Samaj Morcha although he has not been formally
accorded this recognition by his newly created party.
Nothing is
in doubt so far as the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bahujan Samaj Party is concerned as
Sukhbir Singh Badal is the experienced person for this job.
But then is
the basic issue that of electing a leader or identifying the basic issues that
directly concern the people and providing hope.
With the
situation being fluid due to the first ever 5-cornered contest in Punjab and
high level of awareness generated by the agrarian struggle, the dimension of
projecting a chief ministerial face is not that important.
Of course,
the Punjabis this time can’t complain that their choice is limited due to
Congress and the Akali Dal alternating each other. They had AAP as third
dimension in 2017 and now the menu has still more choices.
Mann as the
state party chief had little functional autonomy due to dominating role of
Raghav Chadha. There is little indication that this situation is going to
change now and this is the basic issue with this party whose leadership control
is highly centralised.
Apart from
projecting as their commanders, the political parties are trying to out-compete
each other by way of offering freebies.
The basic
issue is that of empowerment of Punjab at social, political and economic level,
not the lollypops, and that calls for comprehensive approach and vision.
PS:
Enforcement
Directorate today raided residence of a close relative of Channi and several
others in a case relating to illegal sand mining.
Is Channi
being targeted for confronting Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his remark of
70,000 chairs versus 700 attendees at Ferozepur rally?
The illegal
sand mining has been a major controversy in Punjab for over a decade.
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