BATHINDA: Unfazed by the controversies that Bhagwant Mann seems to court often, AAP is still banking big time on its Sangrur MP. Apart from at least three videos allegedly showing him in an inebriated condition going viral on the social media and his suspension from Parliament, Mann has emerged as the star campaigner for the upcoming elections to the Punjab assembly.In apparently an indication of things to come, Mann was made to address the party rally at Kolianwali village in Lambi constituency on Wednesday as the last speaker — the slot usually reserved for the main speaker and party convener Arvind Kejriwal According to AAP insiders, the party has accepted that Mann’s mass appeal as a performer and his one-liner satires draw people to the rallies of the party. Apart from Kejriwal, it is only Mann who has been singlehandedly addressing public meetings and rallies across Punjab.This is happening at a time when AAP is not projecting anyone as its CM candidate in Punjab even though it has already announced a former bureaucrat Elvis Gomes as its chief ministerial candidate in Goa, which will go to polls with Punjab in early 2017.Mann had won the parliamentary election from Sangrur in 2014 with the biggest margin of 2.11 lakh votes in Punjab against SAD secretary general Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa . His witty comments were a big hit in that election.“Bhagwant Mann is undoubtedly our star campaigner as he has the mass appeal. He has the pulse of the real problems of people of Punjab. He knows what they want to hear at the rallies and understands their idioms well. All this has made the party give a bigger role to him,” said a senior AAP leader on condition of anonymity. He termed the videos about Mann “a mischief by the rival parties”.When contacted, Mann said, “I am a committed soldier of the party and working for AAP untiringly. Whatever role is assigned to me I am trying to fulfil that with devotion. I don’t want to know who will lead the party after election.”On the other hand, SAD spokesperson Manjinder Singh Sirsa said, “People come to rallies only to listen Bhagwant Mann, but this will not translate into votes like 2014. Now, people have come to know the reality of AAP and have seen the workings of its government in Delhi.”