The New Indian Express ·
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.
