March 11, 2022 1:31:06 am
AAP supporters celebrate the party’s victory in Punjab on Thursday. Express photo AS PUNJAB woke up to its counting day, and the Aam Aadmi Party began to head towards a thumping lead, there was dancing to drum beats, bursting of crackers and celebrations that could be witnessed outside the party office-cum-residence of party leader, Harpal Singh Cheema, in Sector 39. On the other hand, headquarters of the Congress, the BJP, and the Punjab Lok Congress started wearing a deserted looks in Chandigarh on Thursday.
Hundreds riding on motorbikes, cars, SUVs began to reach the AAP party office at 9:30 am. Anticipating the huge rush and a victory march, which was later cancelled, the Chandigarh police directed the traffic to the Government Houses Complex in Sector 39, where the house of leader Harpal Singh Cheema is situated, to one-way.
The arrival of Punjab AAP party co-incharge, Raghav Chaddha, encouraged the AAP volunteers further. All Chandigarh MC councillors from AAP were present there. A big screen was installed for live telecast of the election results. The scene at the party office remained chaotic till party leader Raghav Chaddha left around 2 pm. Before departing, he addressed the media.
“The full majority was expected. But we did not expect the victory in this way. The party urged the people of Punjab to use brooms for the cleaning but they used vacuum cleaners. We had decided to hold a victory march, but abandoned the idea due to the shortage of time. Initially, there were indications about the arrival of our Punjab CM face, Bhagwant Mann, but later his plan was also changed. In coming days, we will do something,” Prem Garg, AAP’s Chandigarh local convener, said.
Other Chandigarh AAP leaders, Pardeep Chabra, Chander Mukhi Sharma, Vikram Dhawan, Vijay Pal, retired DSP, also were present at the party office. They all congratulated the workers for the victory in Punjab. A section of workers were discussing the significance of AAP victory in Punjab at the national level.
However, merely a handful Congress workers were found sitting at Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee headquarters in Sector 15. The same scene was at the BJP Punjab party office in Sector 37.
Punjab Congress spokesperson, Gurvinder Singh Bali, was sitting in the party office accompanied by a handful of volunteers, who were gossiping about the possible reasons of defeat while watching the TV screen.
“I believe that the internal tussle within our party is one of the reasons behind many others for our defeat in the Assembly elections this time. It is for the first time that we lost so badly that our senior leaders also failed to secure their seats. I cannot name any of the leaders, who are responsible for the tussle. I urged our central leaders including Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Harish Chaudhary to first make discipline in our party,” spokesperson Gurvinder Singh Bali told The Indian Express.
Similar scene was witnessed at the Punjab BJP party office in Sector 37. Not many people were present in the office. Later, Punjab BJP General Secretary, Subhash Sharma, arrived in the office. He told media persons, “We will review the results and learn from our mistakes.”
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