Since release from jail, MLA Arora prefers to keep low profile

Exactly a month since he was released from jail, Aam Aadmi Party Jalandhar Central MLA Raman Arora seems to have chosen to keep a low profile and refrain from any political activity.

Arora had got discharged from jail on November 22 after he faced two FIRs - one by the Vigilance Bureau and another by the city police. He remained in Nabha jail and later Kapurthala jail for four months.

The only place where he has been publicly seen since his release was while singing bhajan at Balaji Temple, where the devotees offered him chunnis and robes. While this happened a day before Diwali, the very next day he uploaded a post on social media, congratulating everyone for the festival.

His sudden activity led many to believe that he perhaps had a cooling time and was set to again become active. But sources close to his family have confirmed that Arora has no such plans. He had chosen to confine himself to his own business.

"He gets out of his house daily around noon but only to spend two-three hours in his cloth shop. He and his son Rajan, who too was booked in the VB case, are focusing only on business. They are not meeting anyone and not even attending any social events. They seem to have chosen to be like that at least for the next few months", said a relative.

It was not just Arora but also his son, his daughter's father-in-law Raju Madaan and close aide Mahesh Makhija who had been booked in the VB case.

Arora is also learnt to have been under immense pressure to resign as MLA but has somehow sustained and so far not resigned. He had also filed a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, saying that he was being pressured to resign but is learnt to have taken back that submission too. Party insiders say that there has been a tacit understanding between him and the Delhi team of AAP ahead of his release under which he has chosen not to get into any party activity. Arora was earlier considered close to CM Bhagwant Mann and his family.

Even though Arora is no longer in office, it is AAP halqa in-charge Nitin Kohli, who continues to command influence and effectively hold the fort for the party in the Jalandhar Central Assembly constituency.

Former BJP minister Manoranjan Kalia too has taken potshots at the situation, saying that AAP was indulging in unconstitutional activity by putting the name of Kohli on foundation stone instead of the MLA. "We shall hold the officials concerned accountable once AAP goes out of power", said the former Local Bodies Minister.