In a major push to bolster its grip in states neighbouring Delhi, the Aam Aadmi Party, under the leadership of its national convenor Arvind Kejriwal, on Thursday held a ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Punjab to mobilise the cadre ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections.

Kejriwal, who is also the Delhi Chief Minister, visited the poll-bound state for the ‘Tiranga Yatra’ in Pathankot, accompanied by Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and senior AAP leader Manish Sisodia, who was already on a five-day visit to the state.

“I have 2 promises for the people of Punjab – if AAP comes to power, a large number of government schools will be built. If any soldier from Delhi is martyred on the border, the family gets an amount of Rs.1 crore. We will provide the same to the soldiers in Punjab… Gurdaspur and Pathankot have the maximum number of soldiers in the Indian Army and the maximum number of soldiers martyred in the wars is also from these two places. I feel blessed to be in the land of soldiers,” Kejriwal said.

The AAP chief has had his eyes set on Punjab for a long time, and has lately been visiting the state quite frequently in the run up to next year’s state polls. Today’s visit is his sixth in just the past two months.

Kejriwal has made several big announcements for the people of Punjab if the Aam Aadmi Party comes to power, some of them being free medical treatment at government hospitals, free education at government schools, Rs 1,000 per month to all women, among others.

In the 2017 Punjab polls, the Congress party had won an absolute majority by bagging 77 seats, ousting the Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party government after 10 years.

However, AAP emerged as the second-largest party in a state it was new to, winning 20 seats in the 117-member strong Assembly.

The Shiromani Akali Dal managed to secure only 15 seats, while the BJP won only 3.