Kalia brought development projects like rly overbridge, flyover to his area

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 17

Known for his fiery speeches and throwing salvos at his political adversaries on his Facebook wall, 58-year-old former Local Bodies Minister and defending MLA Manoranjan Kalia’s political career has seen a roller-coaster ride since the last Assembly elections.

Even though he won the 2012 elections by defeating his opponent and Congress leader Rajinder Beri by 1,075 votes, he kept on fighting the internal party factionalism throughout his tenure as MLA from the Jalandhar (Central) constituency. Despite holding the post of Punjab Local Bodies Minister earlier, he was not given any post or any important responsibility by the then Punjab BJP chief Kamal Sharma.

Also, his not-so-healthy relationship with his party MLA and candidate from Jalandhar (North) KD Bhandari and city Mayor Sunil Jyoti too had cost heavily to the area residents as a majority of his works were either delayed or had not commenced until recently. It was only during the Urban and Rural Rejuvenation Mission launched by the Punjab Government that the area residents could see some development in the area.

A lawyer by profession, Kalia had done BCom in 1979 from Doaba College and pursued law in 1985 from Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU). Due to his proximity with senior leadership in New Delhi, Kalia managed to bring some major development projects to his constituency. Amongst his major works included the approval of two rail over-bridges and a flyover.

Once known to be the most daring leader of the Punjab BJP, Kalia did not hesitate to criticise his coalition partner leaders when he was holding the charge of the leader of the BJP legislature party. His stature within the party as well as in his coalition partner grew so much that he was even tipped to be the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab. However, his downfall started in 2011 when he was divested of his Local Bodies portfolio after his name erupted in a fund embezzlement scam. Later, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal offered the post to his son Sukhbir Badal.

His problems grew further when his arch-rival Kamal Sharma was made the chief of the Punjab BJP unit. However, despite facing numerous hardships from both within and outside the party, Kalia went on to maintain his relationship with area residents by carrying out various development works. Though internal factionalism again came to the fore after his name was dropped from the first list of the BJP candidates, his candidature has given a fresh lease of life to this dynamic leader of the saffron party.