Chandigarh: The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab on Wednesday announced Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora, 63, as its candidate for the ensuing Ludhiana West assembly by-election in the state.
The seat had fallen vacant following the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January, this year. He died at his home of a gunshot after his licensed weapon accidentally discharged.
The date for the said by-poll is yet to be announced while a by-election to elect a new MLA from a vacant seat has to be held within six months.
Arora’s name was announced by the AAP national general secretary (organisation) Sandeep Pathak on X. Arora, a businessman and philanthropist is associated with several social and cultural fora. He, however, faced controversy after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at his and his associates’ residences and offices last year in connection with a land fraud case.
However, sources held that Arora’s entry into state politics aimed at consolidating Hindu vote bank and would usher a major reshuffle in the party. For the record, all the seven incumbent Rajya Sabha members are of AAP.
CLEARING WAY FOR KEJRIWAL?
Meanwhile, the move to field Arora for the said by-election is being seen as a bid by the AAP to clear the way for party supremo Arivind Kejriwal to enter Rajya Sabha from Punjab after his drubbing in the recent Delhi election.
BJP leader and Union minister Ravneet Bittu asked on X: Is Arvind Kejriwal plotting his own Rajya Sabha entry? Is he desperate for a government bungalow in Delhi? The man will go to any extent to maintain his dictatorship. Greed has no limits!
Senior Congress leader and former deputy chief minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said on X that “work has started as per Kejriwal’s plan. If Kejriwal becomes a Rajya Sabha member, he will control Punjab by becoming the “underCover chief minister’’. The face will be of Bhagwant Mann, but the control will be of Kejriwal’’.
Former minister and senior Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia said “power hungry AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal was seeking a Rajya Sabha nomination from Punjab and this was the reason why the party had forced its sitting MP Sanjeev Arora to vacate a Rajya Sabha seat for him”.
AAP TRASHES `SPECULATIONS’
However, trashing what it held as “speculations’’ about Kejriwal’s entry into Rajya Sabha, the AAP held that Arora’s name has been announced so as to prepare the party’s cadre well in time for the bypoll.
Party spokesperson Neel Garg held that the BJP rumour mills are working overtime and Arora has been picked as party candidate because of his popularity in Ludhiana. Stating that Arora has not even resigned as Rajya Sabha member, Garg said that Arora can contest the by-election without resigning, Garg added.
