Chandigarh, Sept. 30 -- The AAP government in Punjab is no stranger to political controversies, but its challenges appear to be steadily mounting with barely five months left for the state's assembly polls.

A series of developments over the past two months, including Enforcement Directorate (ED) raids, growing discontent among employees over dearness allowance dues and unfulfilled promises, protests over drug menace, and a severe power crisis, have kept chief minister Bhagwant Mann and his team in near-constant crisis management mode.

The controversies have not only tested the party leadership, but also put the government's functioning, particularly its record on pre-poll promises of providing corruption-free governance and making Punja...