After opposition slams 'Punjab move', AAP says Arvind Kejriwal will continue as Delhi chief minister

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal is the party's face in Punjab and this doesn't mean he will be its Chief Minister if the AAP wins, the party said on Tuesday.

New Delhi: After the Opposition parties including the BJP criticised Aam Aadmi Party's Punjab move, the party on Tuesday clarified that its leader Arvind Kejriwal will continue as the Chief Minister of Delhi even if the party wins crucial assembly elections in Punjab.

Arvind Kejriwal will be the party's face in Punjab and this doesn't mean he will be its Chief Minister if the AAP wins, party leader Atishi Marlena said. 

Marlena was quoted as saying by CNN that Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia's remarks on Kejriwal being the CM face in Punjab were twisted out of context.

"He (Sisodia) said vote as if Kejriwal is going to be the CM. He did not say Kejriwal will be the Chief Minister. He is the face of AAP and that is the face the people of Punjab are looking at," Marlena said.

"Kejriwal represents AAP. He represents credibility because he fulfilled several promises in Delhi. He is bringing that credibility to Punjab saying all promises made to the people of Punjab will be fulfilled," she said. 

"This is not same as saying that he will be the CM there." 

She added that Kejriwal was the Chief Minister of Delhi and was committed to the people of the national capital. 

The AAP statement came after Sisodia, while talking to reporters in Mohali in Punjab, made an appeal to voters "to cast their votes as if to make Kejriwal the Chief Minister of Punjab".

Sisodia said Kejriwal would be responsible for fulfilling all the promises the AAP makes to the people of Punjab, where the party is contesting assembly elections besides Goa.

Sisodia's remarks were pounced upon by the Congress and the Akali Dal to say that Kejriwal was planning to desert Delhi and become the Punjab Chief Minister. The AAP has announced all 117 candidates in Punjab.

With IANS inputs