Mann declared AAP's Punjab CM nominee: What it means for party

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has voted resoundingly for Bhagwant Mann (48) as its chief ministerial candidate and in keeping with his personality, has created a video on its Twitter account of a song from the 2007 movie 'Heyy Babyy' called 'Mast Qalandar'. In this video, Mann’s face is morphed on hero Akshay Kumar and Arvind Kejriwal, Rahul Gandhi, Punjab CM Charanjit Channi, and Navjyot Sidhu also feature in it. It suggests the party means business.

A bit like Mann himself.

The AAP did an online-cum-phone survey asking for internal suggestions on who the CM should be. He announced a phone number where people could send SMSes indicating their choice.

Around 280,000 people took part. In seeking an inner-party referendum on a CM name, Kejriwal has taken the smart route to fixing on a name, clearing the air before the election.

In 2016, ahead of the last Assembly election, Mann was almost certain that he could be the one to be chosen by his party for the top job, should the AAP come to power. But not only did the party lose out, so did Mann who lost to Sukhbir Badal in the Jalalabad constituency in 2017. This was attributed to his fondness for alcohol.

Mann joined politics in 2009, contested in Manpreet Badal’s Punjab People’s Party and lost. Before that, he was known in Punjab as a famous comedian who ruled the local movie industry and did numerous shows abroad. The Great Indian Laughter Challenge TV show in 2008 increased his popularity. He joined the AAP in 2014, motivated by exactly what no one knows.

He contested and won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat in 2014 by 200,000 votes. In 2019, the margin dropped by 100,000 votes. The Akali Dal and Congress had poked fun at his comedian background and especially cutting was former fina­nce minister, the late Arun Jaitley who never let an opportunity slip to remind the House that Mann had appeared in Parliament inebriated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had referred to Mann obliquely in one discussion when he quoted Indian philosopher Charvaka in a verse that meant: “You live happily if you live in the present. So drink ghee even if you have to borrow money for it”. “It was said earlier ‘ghee piyo’...but if Bhagwant Mann will say, he will ask to drink something else,” the PM said.

Later, Mann publicly accepted he’d had a problem and announced he would never touch alcohol again. Interestingly, it was Mann who launched a broadside against Bikram Singh Majithia who is now the target for a probe by the Enfor­cement Directorate on chanrge of money laundering. Kejriwal had to issue a public apology after Majithia filed a defamation case against him for suggesting his name in a conspiracy to manufacture drugs.

After his 2019 vow of becoming a teetotaler, Mann acquired new respec­tability. He was an instantly recognisable face in the state, and the AAP made him its party chief. He did not raise uncom­fortable questions for the leadership unlike many before him and limited himself to activities to grow the party.

The AAP has 11 MLAs in the outgoing Assembly, after the party went through a spate of defections. Four AAP MLAs — Sukhpal Khaira (Baloth), Pirmal Singh (Bhadaur), Jagdev Singh Kamalu (Maur), and Nazar Singh Manshahia (Mansa) — joined the Congress in the first phase, followed by Bathinda rural MLA Rupi­nder Kaur Ruby and Raikot MLA Jagtar Singh Hissowal. It started with 20 after the 2017 polls. Others were disqualified.

Mann may have been naive in the past, but no longer. In an interview in November when he perceived the AAP was reluctant to name him as its CM candidate, he had said: “We made many mistakes in the run-up to the 2017 elections and we should not repeat those. In fact, on some accounts, we are making bigger mistakes than we did in 2017. Then, we had declared our candidates more than six months before the elections. Now, as on November 10, we have not declared a single candidate, and people in the party, especially the MLAs, are becoming restless.”

The AAP acted almost immediately, but was still reluctant to endorse him, leaving it to the party to decide. Now, in a five-cornered contest, how the AAP will fare in Punjab is anybody’s guess.