In AAP’s new national body, limited space for Punjab unit — and a political message

Punjab is the only state it governs and it was expected that Aam Aadmi Party will give the crucial border state, which is also poll bound,substantial representation in its new nation structure. Instead, the 23-member national executive has only three representatives from the state — Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and, somewhat surprisingly, Rajbir Singh Ghuman, the CM's Officer on Special Duty.

On expected lines, Mann and Cheema have also found a place in the 11-member Political Affairs Committee, the party’s top decision-making body. Ghuman’s elevation, however, is what has set tongues wagging in Punjab. He is neither a minister nor an elected representative.

His political significance comes from his proximity to Mann and his role in the Chief Minister’s organisational and political machinery. Five special invitees — Ajay Dutt, Chaitar Vasava, Imran Hussain, Mehraj Malik and Venzy Viegas — have also been appointed.

Aman Arora, the AAP's Punjab unit chief and a senior minister, has been left out of both the national executive and the PAC. A party leader played down Arora’s exclusion. “By that standard, even Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj should be taken on the panel.

The party has so many roles to offer. It depends on who gets what,” the leader said. For Mann, the developments mark a step forward in consolidation of his position within a party whose power centre has traditionally remained with its Delhi leadership.

AAP is now in government only in Punjab after losing Delhi in February 2025. That makes Mann not merely the head of the party’s lone state government, but also its most important political face outside the central leadership.

Cheema’s elevation, too, was expected. As Finance Minister and Deputy Leader of the House, he has increasingly become one of the government’s principal political defenders. His inclusion also comes at a particularly difficult political moment in his home turf.

The death of Gulzar Singh, a resident of Toor Banjara village in Cheema’s Dirba constituency, has given the Opposition fresh ammunition against the minister. Gulzar had raised concerns over the availability of drugs at a public meeting attended by Cheema.

He later consumed poison and died after naming some villagers for harassing him, following with five people have been arrested. Against this backdrop, Cheema’s inclusion signals that the party leadership continues to repose confidence in him.

Cheema was elated at his inclusion in the body. “I am grateful to the party to have considered me worth it to be in the important panels. I will work hard for the party like a loyal soldier,” he said. It is Ghuman’s induction, however, that gives the new structure its most intriguing Punjab angle.

His rise has to be viewed in the context of his proximity to Mann. It also comes after a controversy involving his aide and entrepreneur Nitin Gohal, who is being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate. Ghuman had defended his association with Gohal, saying the investigation was an act of political vendetta and that he would not abandon a decades-old friendship because of ED raids.

Ghuman was unavailable for comment on his induction. The Opposition seized on his elevation as evidence of the growing importance of Mann’s inner circle. Shiromani Akali Dal spokesperson Parambans Singh Romana said Ghuman was a “breadwinning son” of AAP and mocked the 23-member executive as “Alibaba and his 23 thieves”.

Taking a dig at Arora, he said, “He is retired hurt. He should quit AAP now.” Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa sought to turn the appointments into evidence of an emerging power struggle within AAP. “It appears that two distinct power centres are emerging within AAP, one led by Mann, while the other faction is clearly uncomfortable with the growing concentration of authority around him,” Bajwa said.

The Congress leader said the exclusion of Arora is the key to reading the new arrangement. “If the Punjab party president does not find a place in either of the two principal national bodies while the Chief Minister’s OSD does.

it raises questions about where real organisational influence lies,” he said. The ED controversy involving Ghuman and the allegations subsequently raised around Arora’s alleged associate have further complicated the optics, Bajwa said, while stressing that the allegations must be established through due process.

AAP, however, sought to strip the exercise of political intrigue. Party spokesperson and Anandpur Sahib MP Malwinder Singh Kang said the appointments were based on “experience and competence”. “The party has taken the decision based on the experience and competence of leaders.

It has a healthy representation of leaders. They will work hard for strengthening the party,” he said.