"Alliance With Congress Will Insult Punjab Mandate": Bhagwant Mann To NDTV

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann today rejected suggestions of any "contradiction" or "political inconsistency" in the Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) approach to alliances, stating that national-level cooperation and state-specific poll strategies are different. 

Speaking at the NDTV Nava Punjab Summit, the Punjab Chief Minister was responding to a question by NDTV's CEO and Editor-in-Chief Rahul Kanwal on how the AAP shares the stage with the opposition INDIA Bloc in Delhi but in Punjab, there is no alliance with the Congress.

"There is no contradiction in this, nor is it any game. In politics, every state has its own ground realities and circumstances. At the national level, our alliance is to save democracy. There, we stand together for a larger purpose. But when it comes to Punjab, the political situation here is completely different," Mann told NDTV.

"In Punjab, Congress has been the main opposition and our ideological differences run very deep. The people here have chosen the Aam Aadmi Party as a change against the misgovernance and corruption of traditional parties -- whether it is the Congress or the Akali Dal. If we contest the elections here together with them, it will be an insult to the mandate of the people of Punjab who chose us as an alternative," he added. 

The defection of seven Rajya Sabha MPs from the AAP to the BJP is set to have significant repercussions in Punjab. With the Punjab Assembly elections expected early next year, the BJP has intensified its political outreach in the state.

The BJP and the Congress will barely cross the threshold of 10 seats in the 2027 assembly elections in Punjab, Mann predicted today. And in that race, the Congress will perform better than the BJP, he added.