Chandigarh: Punjab cabinet minister Aman Arora, 50, a Hindu face, was appointed as the new president of the state Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) replacing chief minister Bhagwant Mann on the post on Friday. Likewise, Batala MLA Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi has been named as state working president.

Mann announced the same on X stating that he had handed over the responsibility of party president to two of his close colleagues – Aman Arora and MLA Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi …. saying "The party has decided that Aman Arora will serve as the party president and Sherry Kalsi as the working president. I have full confidence in both my colleagues that they will strengthen the party and the organization in Punjab in the coming time and take it to new heights.’’

Though there had been talks about the elevation of the new and renewable energy minister Arora as the top post, for some time, the final decision was taken at a meeting of the AAP parliamentary affairs committee in Delhi on Friday.

Also, citing his preoccupation with the duties as the chief minister, Mann, who was the party chief since 2017, had recently expressed his desire to step down from the post. Responding to this, the AAP, however, appointed Budh Ram as the state working president, though it did not work.

The appointment of Arora, a two-time MLA from Sunam seat in Sangrur district, and a prominent Hindu face would not only help the party woo the Hindu voters who have traditionally been with the BJP, but also counter the aggressive efforts of the saffron party to expand its base after parting ways with its former ally Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD).

Known for his organisational skills, Arora, who is considered to be ``easily approachable by the party workers’’ had won with the highest margin of 75,277 votes in the 2022 assembly election forcing forfeiture of the deposits of all his rivals.

Son of former Punjab minister Bhagwan Das Arora, was earlier with Congress and had joined AAP in 2016 and was among those who led the AAP’s rise in Punjab.