Delhi CM Kejriwal took to Twitter to announce that Bhagwant Mann will contest against Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbhir Singh Badal
Arvind Kejriwal took to Twitter to announce that Bhagwant Mann will contest against Punjab Deputy CM Sukhbhir Singh Badal. Mann is currently suspended from the Lok Sabha for live-streaming the security arrangements at the Parliament House complex on social media. After facing flak for his act, the AAP MP had defended his move saying he was only showing people how Parliament functioned. He had later appeared before the committee and demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's expulsion for compromising on national security for allowing Pakistan's security agency inside the Pathankot airbase after the terror attack on the facility. The news has been doing the rounds that Badal would be challenged by Mann. In Dec 2015, Mann had dared Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal to take a dope test.
BJP leadership may be unsure of its prospects in Punjab, where it is in government headed by ally Shiromani Akali Dal, but is banking on SAD President and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal's political smarts and election management skills to surprise rivals as polls approach.
"He (Sukhbir) is confident and we believe in him. There were doubts about our chances in 2012 Assembly polls as well but he was confident and turned out to be correct even though Congress had begun celebrating before the votes were counted.
He is a skillful politician," a top BJP leader said.
Beating the odds, SAD-BJP alliance had returned to power in 2012 with Akalis doing better than the saffron party in terms of strike rate.
The surprise success was then put down to shrewd poll management of Badal, who had taken a lead role in overseeing the polls with his father and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal keeping away from the hustle and bustle.
Akalis had got better of Congress by small margins in a number of seats and many believed that Sukhbir outsmarted the Opposition by tactically propping up Independents and better micro-level management.
As Amarinder Singh-led Congress fancies its chances after staying out of power for a decade and AAP too emerging as a formidable force, political watchers believe that the odds are stacked against the NDA.
BJP sources said their alliance might have lost on perception due to a "shrill" campaign by Opposition parties, especially AAP which has targeted Badals over drug menace and corruption, but are hopeful of a comeback due to "visible development" in the state under the Badal government and division of votes due to tripolar contests.
With inputs from agencies
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