AAP’s ‘final countdown’ begins, won’t reach double digits in Punjab polls: Congress

Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), claiming that the ruling party's "final countdown" had begun and predicting a dramatic collapse in its electoral fortunes in the next Punjab assembly elections.

In a strongly worded statement, Warring dismissed AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal's hopes of seeing chief minister Bhagwant Mann return to power, asserting that voters in Punjab had become disillusioned with the government and were eager for change.

“Take it in writing from me... forget forming the government, the AAP will not even touch the double-digit mark this time and maybe, it will not be able to find enough candidates to field in these elections,” Warring said.

The Congress leader alleged that discontent within the ruling party was growing and claimed that many AAP legislators were looking for an opportunity to abandon what he described as a "sinking ship".

“Over half of its MLAs are just waiting for the right time to jump from the sinking ship,” he claimed.

Targeting Kejriwal directly, Warring said the AAP leadership was mistaken if it believed it could once again win over voters with promises and slogans. “You can fool some people some time, some people all the time, all people some time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time,” he remarked.

A major focus of Warring's criticism was the AAP government's unfulfilled promise of providing women in Punjab with a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000. He accused the party of betraying women voters who had supported AAP based on that commitment.

Referring to Kejriwal's recent suggestion that the Assembly elections could be advanced and held in November, Warring argued that eligible women should have received much larger benefits by now under the promised scheme.

“As per their own promise, women should have received Rs 60,000 by now. If elections are held in November, they may end up getting only Rs 3,000. This is the greatest betrayal and the AAP will pay for it,” he said.

Warring also questioned Kejriwal's remarks regarding the possible timing of the elections, suggesting that such announcements should come from the Election Commission of India rather than political leaders.

“Shouldn't this information come from the Election Commission of India?” he asked, while taking a swipe at the AAP chief. He further questioned whether Kejriwal had some special channel of communication with the poll body, drawing a political parallel between AAP and the BJP.

With political temperatures beginning to rise ahead of the next assembly elections, Warring's remarks underscore the Congress party's attempt to position itself as the principal challenger to the AAP government, while highlighting issues related to governance, accountability and unfulfilled promises.

With PTI inputs