Kejriwal's development model in Delhi will work in Punjab polls: Cheema

Buoyed by the success of the party in the Delhi polls, the Punjab unit of the Aam Aadmi Party on Friday said Arvind Kejriwal's development model will work in the next assembly elections in the state and oust the Congress from power. After chairing a meeting of party legislators here, Punjab AAP president Harpal Singh Cheema said the landslide victory of the AAP in Delhi will have an impact on the next assembly polls in Punjab.

"Kejriwal's development model will work in the state in the next polls," he said.

Assembly polls in Punjab are to be held in 2022. Hitting out at the BJP for running a "divisive campaign" in the run up to the Delhi Assembly polls, Cheema said the saffron party "under a conspiracy gave hate speeches" in rallies but its "design" was rejected by the people. He said the AAP's victory in Delhi is a "win of development agenda over communal and divisive politics" and a "tight slap" on the face of the BJP.

Kejriwal-led AAP won 62 seats in the 70-member Delhi Assembly, while the BJP bagged the remaining eight seats. The Congress drew a blank for the second consecutive time. Cheema claimed that the Congress will meet the same fate in the Punjab polls like in Delhi.

"People in Punjab have already rejected the SAD and the BJP for growing seeds of mafias and due to incidents of desecration of holy book during their regime," he said.

Cheema also hit out at the Amarinder Singh government for not giving any relief to consumers from the "costly power" tariffs. He said the AAP workers will snap power supply at Singh's private residence at Patiala followed by disconnecting electricity supply at residences of Congress MPs and MLAs. The meeting of the AAP's Punjab unit also chalked out the strategy of the party in the forthcoming budget session.