AAP rejigs top panel ahead of Punjab 2027 polls, Mann gets permanent PAC role

CHANDIGARH: With an eye on the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, which are less than five months away, the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has made a major change to its 10-member Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the party’s highest decision-making body. Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, State Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema, and former Delhi minister and co-incharge of party affairs in Punjab, Satyendar Jain, have been inducted into the committee.

Earlier, Mann was a special invitee to the committee by virtue of being Chief Minister. He is now a permanent member. These appointments suggest that the AAP is treating the upcoming polls as a high-stakes contest rather than assuming that its 2022 mandate will automatically translate into a second term.

A new 23-member National Executive has also been constituted, which includes Rajbir Singh Ghuman, OSD to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, and Bibhav Kumar, a close aide of Arvind Kejriwal. Ghuman’s name has recently cropped up in the Enforcement Directorate’s investigation into the alleged “cash-for-transfer and land fraud” case.

Interestingly, Aam Aadmi Party Punjab president Aman Arora, Jagraon MLA Saravjit Kaur Manuke, and Talwandi Sabo MLA Baljinder Kaur are no longer members of the National Executive.

The new National Executive members of the party are Arvind Kejriwal, Atishi, Adil Ahmad Khan, Anurag Dhanda, Bhagwant Mann, Dilip Pandey, Durgesh Pathak, Gopal Italia, Gopal Rai, Harpal Singh Cheema, Manish Sisodia, Mohammad Irshad, N.D. Gupta, Pankaj Gupta, Preeti Sharma Menon, Prithvi Reddy, Rakhi Birla, Bibhav Kumar, Sanjay Singh, Satyendar Jain, Shelly Oberoi and Rajbir Singh Ghuman.

The five special invitees are Ajay Dutt, Chaitar Vasava, Imran Hussain, Mehraj Malik and Venzy Viegas.

With a permanent place in the PAC, Mann now has a formal role in shaping the party’s election strategy and greater scope for coordination between the party’s national leadership and the state government. The party is also expected to highlight its achievements while responding to criticism over unemployment, drugs, fiscal constraints and other governance issues in the upcoming polls.

Jain’s induction into the PAC is expected to strengthen coordination between the party’s Punjab unit and its central leadership.

It may be noted that Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak were earlier members of the PAC. However, both have since left the party and joined the BJP.

The inclusion of Harpal Singh Cheema is also significant, as he is second in seniority in the state Cabinet after Chief Minister Mann. His induction adds another representative of the state government to the party’s top decision-making body, giving the state leadership a direct role in decisions related to organisational strategy, candidate selection and campaign planning.

These appointments also underline the importance of Punjab to the AAP after the party lost power in Delhi. Punjab is now the party’s most important electoral showcase and the only state where it currently has a government.

In a statement, the Aam Aadmi Party said that the 15th National Council meeting of the party was held virtually on Wednesday evening. A total of 330 members from across the country participated in the meeting. During the meeting, Arvind Kejriwal was unanimously elected as the party’s national convenor. Pankaj Gupta was elected national secretary, while N.D. Gupta was re-elected treasurer.

It is learnt that Kejriwal particularly instructed party members to gear up for the upcoming Assembly elections.