Lok Sabha polls: AAP releases first list of eight candidates for Punjab, fields five Cabinet ministers

New Delhi: Five ministers, its lone sitting MP and an actor-singer are among eight candidates announced by the AAP on Thursday for the Lok Sabha elections.

The party will be announcing the rest five candidates soon, as it sets the stage for a contest against its I.N.D.I.A ally Congress in the state while fighting together in an alliance in Delhi.

Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Heyer has been fielded from Sangrur, a seat which was held by Bhagwant Mann before he became the Punjab Chief Minister. In the bypolls, AAP had lost the seat to Simranjit Singh Mann of Akali Dal (Amritsar).

Other ministers in the fray are K S Dhaliwal from Amritsar, Laljit Singh Bhullar from Khadoor Sahib, Gurmeet Singh Khudian from Bathinda and Dr Balbir Singh from Patiala.

Sitting MP Sushil Kumar Rinku, who won a bypoll from Congress’ sitting seat Jalandhar, has been repeated. The AAP also fielded a former Congress leader Gurmeet Singh SP from Fathepur Sahib.

At present, Congress has seven MPs from Punjab in Lok Sabha while Akali Dal and BJP have two each. AAP and Akali Dal (Amritsar) have one each seat. 

Though two meetings of its Central Election Committee were held earlier in the month, the Congress has not taken up candidates for Punjab so far.

Sources said former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is likely to be fielded while former state president Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has been at loggerheads with state leaders, has expressed his inability to fight the elections due to some family pre-occupations.

While Congress sitting MPs were keen to have an alliance with AAP, state leaders had shown reluctance. Also, both parties felt that fighting together would give space to the BJP and it would be better to fight against each other. 

AAP has also announced four candidates for Delhi, two for Gujarat and three for Assam. In Delhi, Goa and Gujarat, AAP is in alliance with Congress while in Assam, it is a fight against each other. In Goa, AAP has withdrawn its one candidate and is supporting the Congress.