‘Imaandar CM’ to CBI raid: Bhagwant Mann’s 2027 campaign faces a new test

'Imaandar CM' to CBI raid: Bhagwant Mann's 2027 campaign faces a new test With welfare schemes, public meetings, and digs at rivals, the Punjab CM is increasingly the face of AAP's Assembly poll campaign.

Key points

• 7 min read Chandigarh Oct 7, 2026 06: 46 AM IST First published on: Oct 6, 2026 at 04: 28 PM IST.
• Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at Fatta Maloka village during a public session, in Sardulgarh.
• Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, remarked Mann can't escape blame.
• "Imaandar CM", "Lokan da CM", "AAP da ikko naara, Bhagwant Mann dobara." (Honest CM, people's CM; AAP has one slogan, Bhagwant Mann for the second time).
• New Punjab Congress chief Pargat Singh: 'We have no wajood or aukaat outside Punjab and Congress'.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann at Fatta Maloka village during a public session, in Sardulgarh. (@AAPPunjab/X via PTI Photo). Written by: Manraj Grewal Sharma.

As you drive down from Chandigarh to Jalandhar and then on to Kapurthala, a beaming Mann, the Punjab Chief Minister, is your constant companion, looking down at you from billboards in his trademark yellow turban. When Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) national convenor Arvind Kejriwal dominated the hoardings in Punjab, with Mann emerging afterwards after a phone poll – " Janta chunegi apna CM " (Residents will choose their CM) – saw him handpicked for the top post with 93% of the votes, this is a far cry from late 2021.

While other parties, except the Shiromani Akali Dal led by the Badals, remain largely non-committal regarding their CM face, the AAP. It swept the 2022 Assembly polls by winning 92 of 117 seats, is clearly making Mann its mascot for 2027. The flip side to this is that it puts Mann, and by extension AAP, under intense scrutiny. After the Punjab Police's failure to act on three letters sent by the Enforcement Directorate to the Punjab DGP, there was a political firestorm on Monday after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ordered a CBI probe into allegations linked to his office. The allegations involve Mann's Officer on Special Duty, Rajbir Singh Ghuman, and others. On Tuesday evening, the CBI raided Ghuman's residence and the CM's camp office even as the administration challenged the High Court order in the Supreme Court earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, the Opposition had thought the edict would turn him into a social outcast of sorts. But Mann has remained constantly in the public eye, criss-crossing the length and breadth of the state almost every day, except for a short break in early July when he travelled to Bengaluru for what aides described as his annual wellness programme.

His message changes with the audience but has two constants: 300 units of free electricity a month, presented on billboards and in speeches as 600 units since bills are typically bi-monthly, and the "satkar" payments to women beneficiaries under the Maawan-Dheeyan Satkar Yojana that began on July 1. There is additionally a mandatory warning: "If you vote for other parties, all this will stop."

Focusing on the women who have now received funds for six months under the scheme. It provides Rs 1, 500 a month to eligible Dalit women and Rs 1, 000 to others – with the first transfers produced for three months on July 1 and the second on October 1 – Mann has declared he will never let this " toon-toon " (sound of mobile notification regarding capital coming in) stop. " Kehnde Bhagwant Mann aurtan nu paise de ke sir charha reha hai. Toon-toon chaldi rahegi, band nahin hon devanga." (They say I am spoiling women with funds. This will carry on, it won't stop).

His other favourite pitch, especially in the countryside, is the rose access to canal water under his regime, from 26% in 2022 to 86% now, and the Rs 10 lakh health insurance for all. Plenty of billboards relay the same message, with the tagline, "Jo keeta so kar ke dikhaya." (He delivered what he promised).

But it is his potshots at the Opposition that deliver the real sting: disparaging messages cloaked in laughter. Commenting on the elevation of former India hockey captain and three-time Jalandhar Cantonment MLA Pargat Singh as Punjab Congress president on October 2, he quipped: " Main unhan nu hamesha 'Captain Sahib' kehnda haan. Umeed hai unhan di team vi unhan nu gend pass karegi, kyonki pass ton bina goal nahin ho sakda (I always call him Captain Sahib, I hope his team will pass the ball to him so that he can score)."

Harsimrat Badal: 'I have not signalled Akali Dal, BJP alliance for Punjab polls'.

Another favourite quip is: "Congress vich workers nalon vadh CM umeedwar han. (Congress has more CM hopefuls than workers)." At another place, he says: "Remember the five-point programme of Congress and Akalis: Me, my son, my nephew, my brother-in-law and my sister's husband." And he almost always ends on a cautionary note: "Virodhi parties 2027 ton pehlan paise vi vand sakdian han. Paise le lao, par vote AAP nu pao." (The Opposition parties could woo you with funds, take it, but vote for AAP).

For context, the unrelenting flow of drugs is one matter where the Opposition, led by the BJP, is on the offensive. But here too, Mann plays on the front foot, reminding voters that the difficulty intensified during the earlier Akali Dal-BJP administration and that the BJP at the Centre is responsible for manning the over-500-km international border with Pakistan, one of the routes for drug trafficking in the region.

Political observers see in the billboards an AAP effort to counter the increasingly loud charge that the party is run by proxy from Delhi by Kejriwal. The billboards not only show a CM in charge but underline two things that the AAP wants voters to associate with Mann: his individuals connect and his clean image.

But it's his clean image that is now under fire after the High Court order of a CBI probe. While Mann is calling it a familiar ploy by the BJP to malign him in the run-up to the Assembly polls, the Opposition is having a field day. Punjab Congress's September jinx, AAP's 'Imaandaar CM' shift and cash crunch.

Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa, the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, remarked Mann can't escape blame. "How is it that he was ignorant of what was transpiring in his office? The AAP administration tom-toms him as an 'imaandaar' CM. If he was so honest, why did the High Court order a CBI probe?" Punjab BJP state president Kewal Singh Dhillon went a step further and sought the CM's resignation.

Individuals in the hinterland are generally keeping an open mind. Ajaib Singh, a resident of Bagrian village in Kapurthala. This person retired as a sub-inspector from the Punjab Police four months ago, notes one can't say anything unless there is unassailable proof. Gurcharan Singh, a retired soldier at Bariar village, agrees. "Allegations and counter-allegations are part of politics, all empty without verifiable proof."

For now, though, Mann continues to do what he does best: meet individuals with a script that he improvises on the spot to connect with them. © The Indian Express Pvt Ltd.

Manraj Grewal Sharma is a senior journalist and National Editor (North) based out o.

In short, 'Imaandar CM' to CBI raid: Bhagwant Mann's 2027 campaign faces a new is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.