Former Punjab minister joins AAP

Former Punjab minister Joginder Singh Mann joined the Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday, just a day after breaking his 50-year relationship with the Congress. Mann’s entry, according to AAP leader and Punjab co-incharge Raghav Chadha, will provide a major boost to the party in the state.

“Punjab’s former cabinet minister and three-time MLA Joginder Singh Mann ji joins AAP, ending his 50-year relationship with Congress, inspired by Arvind ji’s vision.” He was the chairman of Punjab Agro Industries Corp. at the time. “His entrance would give the party’s unit in Punjab a major boost,” Chadha said in a tweet, along with a photo of Mann joining the AAP in the presence of the party’s national convener, Arvind Kejriwal.

The three-time MLA from Phagwara, who served as a minister in the cabinets of Beant Singh, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, and Amarinder Singh, said he had a dream that he would die as a congressman in an emotional letter to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “However, with Congress patronizing the perpetrators of the post-matric scholarship programme, my conscience forbids me from remaining here,” he remarked.

The 117 assembly seats in Punjab will be voted on on February 14 and the results will be announced on March 10.