The statement marks the clearest indication yet from the AAP leadership that Mann will lead the party in the next Punjab Assembly polls. While the party has consistently projected Mann as its tallest leader in the state, Kejriwal’s remarks is an endorsement of him as the chief ministerial candidate well ahead of the polls.

Kejriwal described Mann as an honest leader whose integrity remained unquestioned throughout his term. “Punjab has got an honest Chief Minister in Bhagwant Mann. During his entire tenure, nobody could point a finger at him or his family. Otherwise, Prime Minister Narendra Modi would have unleashed ED and CBI teams after him. Bhagwant Mann is a staunchly honest Chief Minister,” he said.

Kejriwal also highlighted the AAP government’s welfare initiatives, including 300 units of free electricity for domestic consumers and the recently launched Mukh Mantri Sehat Yojana, under which health treatment worth up to Rs 10 lakh has been made available free of cost.

The roadshow was attended by Mann, AAP’s Punjab president Aman Arora, party’s Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia, Bathinda Mayor Padamjeet Singh Mehta, his father and AAP leader Amarjeet Singh Mehta, and several other party leaders.

Kejriwal sought to draw sharp distinctions between the AAP and its opponents. “There are four parties in Punjab — one is ED party,  second  is sacrilege and drugs party, third is the fighting party, whose leaders keep quarrelling among themselves, and the fourth is the AAP, the people’s party, the staunchly honest party,” he said.

Several political leaders, including Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Union Minister Ravneet Singh Bittu and Congress leaders, have recently advised party workers to begin election preparations, citing the possibility of an early poll schedule.