The Punjab question for AAP: Can it meet its own raised bar with zero power bills, mohalla clinics?

“Mission AAP: 13-0”. Call it an ambitious or unrealistic goal, but this is the target Punjab Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Bhagwant Singh Mann, 50, has set for the party in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.

Last month, CM Mann told The Indian Express that he viewed the parliamentary polls as a reality check for his over two-year-old government.

And that is what he has been telling voters as he criss-crosses the state to spearhead the AAP’s campaign. “Vote for AAP if you think we have delivered on our promises. Vote for my candidate, kam di guarantee main dinda haan (I guarantee development),” he urges the people at his rallies, tailoring his message to suit his listeners at each campaign stop.

At Patiala’s Mehraj, the ancestral village of former Congress CM Captain Amarinder Singh, who is now with the BJP, Mann reminds the locals of their “misplaced” loyalty to Amarinder who, he says, has joined a party that “forced” the protesting farmers to sit on the Delhi border for over a year (2020-21).

At another rally in support of actor Karamjit Anmol, the AAP’s candidate from Faridkot, Mann highlights how both he and Anmol left successful careers in the entertainment field to serve the people and create jobs.

In Bathinda, Mann, a former comedian, performs a “Kikli” (spoof) on Harsimrat Badal, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD)’s candidate and ex-Union minister, much to the crowd’s amusement.

With Punjab’s 13 seats going to polls in the seventh and final phase on June 1, Mann warns voters against returning to the old parties. “Are you ready for June 1? Bahut dookhi kita ehna ne. Eh rore chak deyo. Tin saal ehi sarkar de paye ne (These parties have given you a lot of grief. Remove these roadblocks. Remember, the AAP