Amid speculation that Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s wife Sunita may be roped in ahead of next year’s Punjab Assembly polls, AAP MP Bhagwant Mann today said the party’s constitution does not allow responsibility be given to two members of a family.
“There is no such thing. The party’s leadership in Punjab is capable of handling its matters. She (Sunita) just took retirement. Media is free to make any guess…AAP constitution states that two members of same family should not be given responsibility,” he said.
Sunita has taken voluntary retirement from Indian Revenue Service, after serving for nearly 22 years in the Income Tax department.
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On who will be the party’s chief ministerial face, the Sangrur MP said the party had made it clear that the candidate will be from Punjab only.
To a question if he is in the race, he said, “I became famous at the age of 17 years. I do not have any wish to become the CM, MP or MLA. I am not after this. We have no greed for position.”
AAP said it will release its first list of candidates for the Punjab Assembly polls in the next 10-15 days.
Mann said party’s volunteers will recommend names of probable candidates which will go to the screening committee.
On suspended Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi’s reported move of bringing a private bill in the Parliament to legalise poppy husk, opium and marijuana, the leader said he does not have information in this regard.
“Gandhi is a suspended MP. If he wants to being such a bill, then the party will discuss it. Personally I do not want that the use of any kind of intoxicant be legalised,” he said.
On the proposed visit of Kejriwal to the Golden Temple on July 18 in the wake of the manifesto row, Mann said the Delhi Chief Minister would come as a ‘sewak’ to perform ‘sewa’ (volunteer service) at the temple.
He said Kejriwal will hold an interactive session, ‘Talk to AK’, with people on July 17 through social media, phone calls and SMS to allow people to talk directly with him about their problems and give suggestion.
He said this should not be compared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Mann ki Baat’ as here, “Kejriwal will listen to people’s Mann Ki Baat”.
Terming Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s Sangat Darshan Programme, as “Akali Darshan” Mann claimed, “Congress and Akalis will not be able to cross the double figure. We will repeat history which we created in Delhi Assembly polls.”
Accusing Punjab Congress chief and Amritsar MP Amarinder Singh of not raising voice of the people of Punjab in Parliament he claimed, “He had not attended the last three sessions of Parliament. People from Amritsar raise their issues with me.”
