Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka on Tuesday alleged that on the basis of fake response calls, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had declared MP Bhagwant Mann as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.
"There is no truth in the response calls that Arvind Kejriwal is talking about and to cheat the people of Punjab and Bhagwant Mann, Kejriwal has played a new trick," said the Congress leader.
Verka further alleged that the AAP is afraid of the popularity of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and that is why Kejriwal has declared Bhagwant Mann as the face of the Chief Minister, who was already sidelined.
"The fort of Bhagwant Mann has already been destroyed. The AAP had lost in the municipal elections, Panchayat elections and Zilla Parishad elections. The popularity of Bhagwant Mann is negligible even in his own constituency, so the public has already rejected Bhagwant Mann," he said.
Verka said that the people of Punjab have now made up their mind that the Dalit's son Charanjit Singh Channi will now be the next Chief Minister of Punjab.
"Aam Aadmi Party is not going to get a total 5 lakh votes in Punjab and they are talking of more than 20 lakh call response on the basis of lies," added the Congress leader.
Earlier today, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Bhagwant Mann has been named as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls, said party's National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.
Calling Mann as his "younger brother", Kejriwal said that of the total responses, 93.3 per cent wanted Bhagwant Mann to be the party's Chief Ministerial candidate.
Bhagwant Mann is currently an MP from Sangrur Lok Sabha seat of Punjab.
Assembly elections in Punjab will be held on February 20. The counting of votes will be done on March 10.
In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won 77 seats in the 117-member House, whereas Shiromani Akali Dal could win only 18 seats. On the other hand, AAP emerged as the second-largest party with 20 seats.
( With inputs from ANI )
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