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'Aam aadmi' Arvind Kejriwal joins morning walkers for tea, selfies, jokes in Barnala

BARNALA: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday morning campaigned for party candidates in Punjab by spending his first morning in the state by mingling freely with walkers at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park here without any security in between.


The interaction was a bid by the AAP supremo to project himself as an ‘aam aadmi’.

Dressed in a casual kurta-pyjama, Kejriwal first strolled with morning walkers and then reached Barnala Club. He spent considerable time with people and club members.

Kejriwal started his Punjab tour on Monday and will be in the state till May 17, when campaigning ends for the last phase. Kejriwal happily answered the queries of people and even tough questions which journalists usually pose to politicians. He also gave walkers reasons for AAP losing Punjab assembly polls in 2017, failure of forging an alliance with the Congress in Delhi and Haryana , and the split in the party.

Accompanied by AAP Barnala MLA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Kejriwal said they were winning in Punjab in 2017, but someone floated a rumour that he stayed at the home of a Khalistani and this went against the party. “I had no idea where I had stayed,” he said.

Replying to a question on his urge to align with the Congress, he said he wanted to stop the PM Narendra Modi-BJP chief Amit Shah jodi (partnership) from retaining power. “Our alliance was almost finalised in Delhi, but Congress leaders backed out at the last minute and the alliance could not take shape,” he said.

Replying to a query on the vertical split in the party’s state unit, Kejriwal said it happened everywhere and did not make much as some people join the party and some leave it. “Now two MLAs have left us in Delhi, but we are not worried,” he said.

He clarified why he tendered an apology to Akali Dal MLA Bikram Singh Majithia over calling him a druglord. Kejriwal said he was facing a lot of cases and these were consuming his energy.

In his customary style, Kejriwal apologized the people at the park for “disturbing their stroll”.

Kejriwal asked people to make party candidate Bhagwant Mann win, saying that he made a mark in Parliament by raising several issues concerning Punjab and making Parliament pay tributes to the Sahibzadas (sons) of 10th Sikh master Guru Gobind Singh. The Delhi Cm said Mann also ensured that Punjabis stuck in foreign countries were brought back. Later, he took out road show towards Sangrur.

Barnala resident Sandeep Malik said he had never seen such humility in a chief minister. “It was our first encounter with such high profile personality in such a casual manner,” he said.

Another local, Amit Mittal, said Kejriwal had shown himself to be different from regular politicians, who stay away from people and remain under security. “We could not easily believe he was roaming so freely,” he said.

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