Boyfriend or girlfriend? Mann gets cheeky with Raghav Chadha's ex-lover jibe

It was once a relationship of political proximity. Raghav Chadha was described as "number two" in Punjab, a leader who was given prominence and was close to both AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Mann and Kejriwal even attended Chadha's wedding.

Now, Chadha has a rather different description for the equation.

AAP, he said last month, was behaving like an "ex-girlfriend" after the party repeatedly referred to him over questions surrounding his name being added to the Delhi electoral roll.

At Panchayat Aaj Tak, Mann was asked about the remark.

"Does that mean ex-girlfriends behave in a wrong manner?" he quipped. "No, that is what he (Raghav) is claiming," Mann said, before turning the analogy around.

"Ex-boyfriend can also do the same. Isn't this a sexist (against women) remark? Why don't you target him?" he asked the panel, drawing laughter from the crowd.

Then came the punchline: "Don't know whether to call Raghav Chadha a boyfriend or a girlfriend."

Mann then shifted from the metaphor to Chadha's political journey, recalling the prominence the former AAP leader had once enjoyed.

"We gave him a lot of respect. Sent him to Rajya Sabha. At such a young age. He was a Deputy Leader there," Mann said.

But, he added, not everyone can handle the respect they receive.

"Now the one that cannot handle respect, what to say of him? In politics, what you get, you should accept gracefully," Mann said.

Then came an old idiom: "Kauwa chala hans ki chaal, apni chaal bhula" -- a crow trying to imitate a swan and forgetting its own way.

Mann also took a swipe at speculation surrounding Chadha's move to the BJP.

"Now he has gone to BJP. They say that Chadha will get a ministry in the upcoming cabinet. But I don't think so," he said.

The conversation then moved from Chadha to the six Rajya Sabha MPs who left AAP.

Asked whether any of them had wished him goodbye, Mann said he had received information about their decision only a few days earlier. According to Mann, they said they were under pressure.

He cited Bengal and the example of present-day Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari while making the broader political point.

Then he turned his fire on the BJP, calling it the "Bharatiya Jugaad Party."

"Take 10 from here, take 15 from there. The ones they were abusing, now they are working with them," Mann said.

HOW THE EX-GIRLFRIEND REMARK BEGAN

Chadha's "ex-girlfriend" jibe came after AAP questioned how his name was added to the Delhi electoral roll.

AAP had asked the Election Commission to clarify the process followed in adding Chadha's name and sought access to the relevant Form 6, the application used for new voter registration.

Chadha, speaking in Chandigarh, said AAP continued to refer to him even after he had moved on.

"AAP is only dreaming of me and calling my name. AAP is behaving like an ex-girlfriend and the boyfriend has moved on," he said. He also said, "I hope they cut their nerve because of me."

AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda subsequently sought clarity from the Election Commission on when and where Chadha had submitted Form 6.

Dhanda said records of the Rajinder Nagar Assembly constituency showed that Chadha's name did not appear in the Form 6 applications received between September 1 and 7.

He also questioned how Chadha's name appeared at serial number 747 when the draft electoral roll published on August 31 had entries only up to serial number 746. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4.

Dhanda said that if Chadha had filed Form 6 in Delhi, the Election Commission should make it public and allow people to file objections, as is done for any ordinary citizen.

The latest exchange comes months after Chadha switched from AAP to the BJP, with the dispute over his voter registration adding another point of friction between the former party and its former Rajya Sabha leader.