Chandigarh

Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday remained non-committal on revealing the party's chief ministerial face for the state and said the people will decide on who would become the chief minister.

Kejriwal said that he wanted to pitch for the party's Lok Sabha MP Bhagwant Mann as the Chief Minister. However, he refused to do so after Mann insisted that the people of Punjab should decide on who should be the AAP’s chief ministerial face.

"Bhagwant Mann is very dear to me, he is like a younger brother. I was also saying that we should make him the CM face for Punjab Assembly elections, but he (Mann) said let the people of Punjab decide this," Kejriwal said at a press conference.

"Many political parties believe in putting their family members as the Chief Minister's face. However, we decided not to follow this. "First time in India's history, people will decide - who should be their CM candidate," he said.

Kejriwal also expressed confidence that the AAP would win the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls.

"Every survey shows AAP is winning Punjab. Thoda saa aur dum, Punjab jeet rahe hain hum! (A little more power, we will win Punjab)," he said.

Kejriwal announced that people can message and call on the number 70748 70748 to send their suggestions on who should be the Chief Ministerial candidate from AAP for the upcoming Punjab Assembly polls by January 17 till 5 pm.

Mann, who also addressed the press conference said, "We also are Aam Aadmi. Why not declare Chief Minister's candidate only after asking people? If the Chief Minister is elected by the people himself, then he also gets the confidence that this is 'our' man."

"The responsibility of the Chief Minister is a big responsibility. CM has to be involved in the sorrow and happiness of the people of the State, so we are issuing a number 70748 70748. You can tell your favourite CM face by calling or messaging on it. I am grateful to the party, even if my duty is to paste the posters, I will do that too, but the faith that CM sahib has placed in me is priceless," Mann said.

Punjab Assembly polls are scheduled to be held in a single phase on February 14. The results will be announced on March 10.