The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab is likely to replace Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as its state president with Cabinet minister Aman Arora, The Indian Express has learnt. Arora may be appointed as the AAP convenor as soon as Friday, a day after the by-elections to the four Punjab Assembly seats were held.
“The change is likely to be announced today in all probability. The AAP wanted to name a Hindu leader to hold the reins of the party in the state,” said a source privy to the discussions within the Aam Adam Party.
This will also come after the Lok Sabha election results when it was believed that the Hindu voters shifted to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The AAP got 26.2 per cent of vote share during the Lok Sabha elections 2024 and the BJP got 18 per cent votes. In the Punjab Assembly elections 2022, the AAP got 42 per cent votes, and the BJP got 6.6 per cent votes.
Bhagwant Mann himself indicated this change in October while speaking to the media on the sidelines of an election rally at Chabbewal during a by-election campaign. “I have been the president of the AAP in Punjab for the last seven years. Working on two posts adds to the pressure on the CM. As the chief minister, I have huge responsibilities, overseeing 13-14 departments,” Mann said at that time.
“While I have been fulfilling my duties as the state president with full dedication, I believe the AAP needs a dedicated president to handle party responsibilities full-time. I will discuss the appointment of a full-time AAP state unit president with the party high command so that responsibilities can be distributed.”
Mann was first appointed the AAP Punjab convener in May 2017, after the debacle of the party in the Assembly elections that year. However, he resigned in March 2018 in protest a day after Arvind Kejriwal apologised to Bikram Singh Majithia in a defamation case for making false allegations about the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader’s involvement in drugs trade.
He was appointed the AAP Punjab convener again in January 2019. Even after taking over as the chief minister in March 2022, he continued to hold both posts. It was seen as a precedent set by Arvind Kejriwal, who remained the Delhi CM and the national convener of the AAP until he stepped down as the CM.
