Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Wednesday, 24 January, that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) will contest all 13 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections without any alliance with the Congress.
The decision came soon after Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her decision to go solo in West Bengal for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, without forming any alliance.
The AAP, TMC, and Congress are all part of the coalition alliance called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
“It’s going to be 13-0 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. AAP is poised to secure victory in all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab and would emerge as the hero in the country,” said Punjab CM Mann, expecting a clean sweep.
Mann also stated that the party would contest alone in the Chandigarh mayoral poll without any alliance with the Congress.
Mann announced that nearly 40 AAP members have been shortlisted in preliminary meetings for the 13 Lok Sabha seats.
"We will conduct a survey again to know the winnability (of the candidate) in each seat. On some seats, there are three-four candidates shortlisted, and on a seat like Jalandhar, where we have a sitting MP, there is a lone candidate,” added Mann.
(With IANS inputs.)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)