AAP's Punjab CM face Bhagwant Mann to contest from Dhuri
Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 20 Jan, 2022 11:55 AM
Chandigarh, Jan 20 (IANS) Two-time Member of Parliament and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief ministerial candidate Bhagwant Mann will be contesting from Dhuri in the February 20 polls in Punjab.
The announcement was made by state affairs co in-charge Raghav Chadha in Mohali on Thursday.
"Mann is a pan-Punjab leader and will campaign for party candidates across the state. We are the only party to go into the polls with a CM's face," Chadha told reporters. He also said Mann and Arvind Kejriwal form a formidable team.
Mann, 48, is pitted against Congress sitting legislator Dalvir Singh Goldy where former Sangrur MLA Parkash Chand Garg is in the fray as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate.
The Sanyukt Samaj Morcha, an outfit floated by 19 farm organisations, has fielded former sarpanch Sarabjit Singh Alal as its candidate.
In 2017 Assembly polls, Goldy defeated AAP's Jasvir Singh Jassi Sekhon by a slender margin of 2,811 votes.
The Dhuri Assembly constituency falls in the Sangrur parliamentary seat that commedia-turned-politician Mann, 48, is representing.
The AAP has so far named candidates on 112 of the 117 Assembly seats.
In the 2017 assembly polls, the Congress won a whopping 77 seats in the 117-member House, while SAD-BJP combine could win only 18 seats. AAP emerged as the second-largest party with 20 seats.
India's civil aviation regulator, the DGCA, on Thursday extended the ban on scheduled international commercial flights till January 31.Earlier, India had announced plans to allow resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services from December 15 with certain conditions.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with the country's top security officers held a meeting on Wednesday over the situation arising out of the IAF chopper crash in Tamil Nadu that killed Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, his wife and 11 others onboard the ill-fated helicopter.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM), the umbrella body of the farmers protesting along the borders of the national capital over agricultural issues, have agreed to the draft proposal prepared by the Central government, and is expected make a "major announcement" on Thursday. A meeting is likely to be held on Thursday noon to decide the further strategy of the movement.
Former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday lashed out at the Congress high command for appointing Ajay Maken as the Chairman of the screening committee for shortlisting candidates for the next Vidhan Sabha elections in Punjab. In a statement here, Amarinder Singh said Maken is the nephew of (late) Lalit Maken, who was one of the main culprits of the 1984 anti-Sikh riots in Delhi.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convener and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said the sand mafia in Punjab alone runs illegal business of over Rs 20,000 crore. There are serious allegations of direct involvement of ruling Congress MLAs, their ministers and their close associates, including the Chief Minister himself.
