A meeting on Tuesday evening in Ludhiana to discuss the special intensive revision (SIR) of poll rolls and the upcoming municipal corporation elections in parts of Punjab was marred by a disagreement between a few AAP MLAs, including Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, and Manish Sisodia, in charge of the party’s state affairs.
It’s in the backdrop of this verbal spat between Sisodia and Khudian that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal’s two-day Punjab visit, which began today, becomes significant.
A senior AAP functionary told The Tribune that Kejriwal reached Ludhiana to meet party leaders to thrash out a strategy for the civic polls as well as the Vidhan Sabha elections, due in a few months from now. His meeting with the functionaries is significant as it comes close on the heels of the recent searches by central investigating agencies against AAP ministers.
On Tuesday, towards the end of the meeting, party leaders present there said Khudian questioned Sisodia about the choice of candidates for the civic polls, scheduled for May 26. Earlier, Bathinda MLA Jagrup Singh Gill had raised similar objections.
The spat between Sisodia and Khudian threatened to get out of hand, multiple party sources said, with Khudian objecting to the fact that some of his supporters did not get the ticket to contest the Bathinda MC poll. On the other hand, the minister claimed, a few former Congress workers got the ticket at the behest of a Bathinda ex-Mayor. Sisodia is believed to have told Khudian to discuss the issue later, but he didn’t relent. Only when a few MLAs led by Jaswant Gajjanmajra intervened that the spat ended. Khudian was not available for comment. AAP spokesperson Baltej Pannu also did not respond to calls.
