Aam Aadmi Party has rubbished media reports that Delhi chief minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had made up his mind to quit Delhi to focus on Punjab elections scheduled for 2017.
A report carried by Kolkata based newspaper, The Telegraph, said that Kejriwal was planning to ‘vacate the Delhi chief minister’s chair’ before elevating his deputy Manish Sisodia to replace him so that he could ‘focus on Punjab.’
AAP’s Ashutosh denied this report calling it orchestrated at the behest of those who were scared of his party’s rising popularity graph.
He tweeted, “Media is running a baseless news about DELHI CM KEJRIWAL.This shows how scared are Akali/Congress of AAP and how strong is AAP in Punjab.”
Media is running a baseless news about DELHI CM KEJRIWAL.This shows how scared are Akali/Congress of AAP and how strong is AAP in Punjab.
— ashutosh (@ashutosh83B) December 11, 2015
The Telegraph report further said that the hunt for a constituency for Kejriwal has already been launched in Punjab, according to party insiders.
On Thursday, the party announced that Kejriwal would be addressing the first pre-poll rally of the party in the state on 14 January.
“Anyway, if we fail in Punjab, Kejriwal can return as Delhi chief minister. Our main rival in the state is the Congress. But we stand a good chance if Arvind Kejriwal is projected as chief minister,” the paper quoted an unnamed AAP leader as saying.
AAP had won four Lok Sabha seats in the 2014 general elections.