Comedian Bhagwant Mann set to be Punjab’s first AAP CM, faces 3 broad challenges

Image of being Kejriwal’s ‘proxy’, inter-state disputes & striking a balance between security issues and relations with NRI donors likely to be challenges, say poliical leaders.

File photo of Bhagwant Mann | ANI

Chandigarh: From popular comedian to soon-to-be occupant of the highest political office in Punjab, the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Bhagwant Mann has come a long way in politics.

With AAP leading in 91 seats, according to data available on the Election Commission of India’s website at 1 pm, Mann — also set to comfortably win his Dhuri seat with more than 60 per cent of the votes — is the man of the moment.

But for Mann, who was hugely popular as a comedian-actor, with his on-screen character, Jugnu, being a household name in Punjab, this could also be a new beginning in terms of challenges. Several senior political leaders across party lines, including AAP, broadly pointed out three areas.

‘Proxy CM’ for Kejriwal

First, Mann must shed his image as a proxy of AAP chief and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, said the leaders.

“Even though Bhagwant (Mann) is popular among the masses, there is a concern that Kejriwal can become the person actually ruling Punjab, keeping him (Mann) as a proxy CM. Bhagwant Mann is not unaware of this issue. In his poll campaigns, especially in rural areas, Mann in his public meetings has been stressing the fact that he will be an independent leader. It may take some time,” said a senior AAP functionary.

Mann joined AAP in 2014 and became a Lok Sabha MP for the party. In 2017, the party invested heavily in the Punjab state polls but ended up getting just 20 seats —which was still enough to make it the principal opposition to the Congress. Between 2015 and 2019, AAP in Punjab witnessed many ups and downs, a senior political leader in Punjab said.

There was strife within the AAP, between a Delhi team that wanted to exercise more power and a Punjab team that wanted to operate with more autonomy. Leaders such as Sanjay Singh and Durgesh Pathak, both integral to Kejriwal’s core team of strategists, were seen as the face of the Delhi team. On the other hand, Mann, Sucha Singh Chhotepur, and H.S. Phoolka were the faces of the Punjab team. While Mann stayed in AAP, Chhotepur and Phoolka quit in 2016 and 2019 respectively.

Ups and downs

In 2018, when Kejriwal apologised to Shiromani Akali Dal MLA Bikram Singh Majithia for alleging that he was involved in the drug trade, Mann and Aman Arora, co-convenor and Sunam MLA, resigned from their respective posts. However, with Kejriwal himself intervening in the matter, they both joined again.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s seats came down from four (in 2014) to one. Mann was that one survivor. In this period, several prominent leaders, including nine MLAs, quit the party.

After winning the Delhi polls with a thumping majority for the second time in February 2020, AAP renewed its focus on Punjab. This time, Raghav Chadha, also believed to be close to Kejriwal, was put in charge of the state, and there was a clear indication that Mann would remain the state convener there. “It was a clear indication that both the Delhi team and the Punjab team were trying to settle at a middle ground,” said the senior leader quoted above.

Ahead of the 2022 polls, Kejriwal was heavily invested in campaigning for Mann – who, Kejriwal claimed, was chosen as a CM candidate by the people of Punjab through a feedback mechanism set up by the party. Later, Kejriwal’s wife Sunita
Kejriwal and daughter Harshita Kejriwal campaigned for Mann.

“It added strength to the campaign, but then there was another issue. In prominent press conferences and TV interviews, Kejriwal was always seen accompanying Mann, which contributed to the popular perception that Kejriwal is asserting himself as the boss,” said a former AAP leader based in Punjab.

Inter-state disputes

The second most prominent challenge for Mann is inter-state disputes involving Delhi and Punjab. Senior political leaders in the state often emphasise three of these — the unsettled aspects of a river-linking dispute involving the Sutlej and the Yamuna, the air pollution issue for which Delhi blames Punjab every year, and the issue of Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar.

Bhullar is a former member of the Khalistan Liberation Force who was convicted for a bomb blast in the national capital in 1993. He is officially registered as an inmate in Tihar Jail — which comes under the administrative jurisdiction of the AAP government in Delhi. For quite some time now, Sikh groups in Punjab and the Shiromani Akali Dal have been pressuring the AAP for Bhullar’s release. Earlier this month, Bhullar’s name appeared in a meeting of the sentence review board, but was deferred.

Striking a balance

The third challenge is striking a balance between tackling hardliners who are sympathetic
to separatist groups and ensuring that the flow of donations that AAP receives
from NRIs is not disrupted.

“This is likely to be a tough ground. They cannot afford to be seen as a party that lets hardliners and sympathisers of separatist groups have any say in governance. But the party also gets a large chunk of donations from NRIs — a large fraction of which comes from individuals and entities that have a soft corner for some separatist group,” said the former AAP leader quoted above.

“The challenge is big because even Kejriwal has no idea in dealing with national security issues and did not do well politically in dealing with allegations of being a separatist sympathiser — which cost his party the state of Punjab in 2017 and came back to haunt him again this year,” added the leader.

Ahead of the 20 February polls in Punjab, Kejriwal faced a collective attack from the opposition — especially the BJP and the Congress — accusing him of sympathising with separatist groups.

This was based on an incident five years ago in which Kejriwal was allegedly found staying at the home of a former separatist leader in Moga during AAP’s election campaign.