The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday has asserted that Delhi's former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is attempting to remove Bhagwant Mann from the post of Punjab's Chief Minister.
BJP leader Manjinder Singh Sirsa said: "After drubbing in Delhi elections, Arvind Kejriwal has called a meeting of Punjab MLAs in Delhi. Reports suggest that he is trying to remove Bhagwant Mann Ji from the CM post."
It has been learnt that Sirsa, who won the Delhi Assembly elections from the Rajouri Garden constituency, alleged that Kejriwal wants to shift the entire blame onto Mann for allegedly failing to curb the drug menace in the state and also not fulfilling the promise of giving ₹1,000 of monthly assistance to women.
Also read: Kejriwal to meet Punjab CM, MLAs amid speculation of conflict
The BJP leader has warned Mann to be vigilant before anything of this sort happens.
"We don't want a man who ruined Delhi to further destroy the state of Punjab. No Punjabi will ever tolerate him. Kejriwal ji forget this dream," he said.
Kejriwal has summoned a meeting with the party's MLAs and ministers from Punjab on Tuesday.
The meeting comes in the wake of AAP's rout in the Delhi Assembly polls and growing speculation about internal dissent in the party's Punjab unit. However, AAP MP Malvinder Singh Kang downplayed the reports of dissent, and termed Tuesday's meeting a "routine strategy session".
"A party is a continuous process. Feedback from all units are taken to shape its future strategies. Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann along with AAP MLAs will meet Arvind Kejriwal to discuss the way forward," he said.
The decision comes after the AAP faced a massive defeat in the Delhi Assembly elections, winning only 22 out of 70 seats.
The meeting is scheduled to discuss the reasons of loss of the Delhi election results and plan for the 2027 Punjab assembly elections.
As the tables have turned, Punjab is the only state where AAP is still in power, having won 92 of the 117 seats in the 2022 Assembly elections.
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