Ending drug menace, corruption top priority says Raman Arora, Jalandhar Central MLA
Aparna Banerji
Jalandhar, april 18
First-timer Raman Arora of the AAP bagged the coveted Jalandhar Central seat by defeating Congress’ Rajinder Beri by 247 votes. Arora raked in 33,011 votes and a 30.98 vote percentage on the seat.
Arora has already conducted inspection at a police station and a government school (of which he ran a Facebook live) even before Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann took the formal oath. He was among AAP candidates brought in amid much controversy (also opposition from within the AAP’s old guard) in the district. However, in the few days since the elections, he has been holding drives against corruption.
Apart from surprise checks, he was sitting along with the police during a press conference announcing the seizure of 20-kg ganja on Sunday. The seizure had reportedly been made on a tip-off by him.
While the first arrest (of a clerk at the tehsil office) on a complaint on the new anti-corruption helpline in the state was also made in his constituency, Arora said, “It’s unfortunate that the first such case came from my area… I worked 15 hours, now I will work for 18 hours a day to counter corruption.”
Upbeat on the recent ganja seizure, he said, “After a complaint from a do-gooder, I talked to the Police Commissioner and able officers were put on the job.” Having served as the state vice-chairman of the Arora-Khatri Welfare Board, the MLA joined the AAP just before the elections.
Speaking about his unprecedented win from the seat, Arora said, “There was opposition against the Congress. People were fed up. There were strikes and protests but no one listened to them. Hence, they have placed their trust in us. We will uphold it. Our checks and inspections will also continue.” Combating corruption, drugs and traffic problem and ensuring better health services in his constituency are his key priorities.
Raids working
I’m committed to ensuring that corruption plaints don’t come from my area…. With the surprise checks, people who had doubts about the merit of the AAP candidates will begin to trust the party MLAs. — Raman Arora, Jalandhar Central MLA
