CHANDIGARH: The Aam Aadmi Party will soon release the first list of 23 candidates for the upcoming Punjab state polls. The move comes after the party's Political Affairs Committee (PAC) gave its permission. Volunteers recommended over 500 names for 23 seats of the assembly.
The party's screening committee for the state has short listed nearly 130 names, an average five to seven from each constituency, and then forwarded it to the PAC. The screening committee included AAP's national spokesperson Sanjay Singh, Faridkot MP Sadhu Singh, Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann, Punjab convener Sucha Singh Chhotepur and national organisation building secretary Durgesh Pathak.
Meanwhile, party convener and New Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal who recently got bail in a defamation case filed by Bikram Singh Majithia, vowed to create a "new Punjab" in six months. Verbally attacking the state's Revenue Minister over drug issue, Kejri dared Majithia to get him arrested saying he wasn't afraid of "false cases". Kejri said, "I challenge Majithia to arrest me in six months as they are in power. Else, I will arrest him after six months. The people of Punjab will take revenge for each and every case against them. In the coming elections, people will take revenge from Majithia. After six months (I will) reconstruct a new Punjab."
He said the state's drug problem is the reason why it is in such a bad shape. "Majithia said that I have defamed him. How dare he say this? I ask you all, who is the drug dealer in Punjab? I want to ask him, how many mouths will you shut? When I travelled across Punjab, people told me that he files false cases to threaten them," Kejriwal said. Majithia is the brother- in- law of Shiromani Akali Dal chief and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. "If he and the Badals can file defamation cases against me, I can understand what he can do to the 'Aam Aadmi'. The court has summoned me, so I came here. I am the Chief Minister of Delhi. God has blessed me with many things but when a case is filed against a common man, his entire life is ruined in going to courts," he said.
