AAP picks MP Sanjeev Arora as candidate for Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll
The ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Wednesday announced Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as its candidate for the ensuing Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll. With this, Arora is all set to enter the state politics.
A formal announcement to this effect was made by the party’s national general secretary (organisation), Dr Sandeep Pathak, this morning.
The Ludhiana West Assembly seat had fallen vacant following the mysterious death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi on January 10. As per rules, the bypoll to elect new MLA from vacant seat has to be held within six months.
The Tribune was the first to report that the party high command has chosen the business tycoon-philanthropist-turned-politician Arora, 61, for the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll.
Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal had met Arora in New Delhi on Tuesday and asked him to contest Ludhiana West bypoll while assuring him a key role and responsibility in the state government.
Ludhiana native, who runs ‘Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust’ in the memory of his parents who he lost of cancer, has so far adopted over 300 cancer patients. The vice-president of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Arora has been promised a “bigger and prominent” role in the state government after he becomes MLA, said sources.
Following the party’s ouster from Delhi, the Bhagwant Mann-led state government has been in the eye of a storm with reports of a major rejig or change of guard doing the rounds.
“It will be following Arora’s entry into the state politics that a major reshuffle will take place,” said a party insider privy to the development.
Party sources said Arora’s entry into the state politics was aimed at consolidating the Hindu vote bank in the light of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) making inroads into the urban base during the recently held parliamentary poll in Punjab.
“Arora is a prominent Hindu face and he will be given key role and responsibility,” the AAP insider shared, while adding that a formal announcement would be made by either Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann or state party president Aman Arora on Wednesday.
Actively involved in several social and cultural organisations, Arora is also a member of the Apex Council of Punjab Cricket Association and Ved Mandir Trust, Daresi, besides serving two consecutive terms as the secretary of Ludhiana’s elite Sutlej Club. He had recently adopted three district hospitals in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar for complete revamp and upgrade.
Advocate for affordable health and industry promotion, Arora is also a member of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health and Family Welfare for the third consecutive year.
When contacted, Arora thanked the party high command, especially Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann and Aman Arora for reposing faith in him. "I shall leave no stone unturned to come up to the expectations of my party and my people in Ludhiana, whom I am serving since long," the parliamentarian said.
Meanwhile, former Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is facing Vigilance Bureau and Enforcement Directorate cases, is the frontrunner for the Congress ticket, while the BJP is likely to repeat Bikram Singh Sidhu. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which had not contested the recently held four Assembly bypolls in Punjab, is also still unsure about the Ludhiana West bypoll.
In the 2022 Assembly election, AAP’s Gogi had trounced the two-time Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who was the Food Minister in the previous state government, from Ludhiana West Assembly constituency.
While Ashu, who had won with a maximum margin in the district in 2017, had finished runner-up, the SAD’s former Minister Maheshinder Singh Grewal was among five nominees who had lost their security deposits. BJP’s first-timer Sidhu had finished third.
However, Gogi’s wife Dr Sukhchain Kaur, another AAP MLA Ashok Prashar Pappi’s wife Meenu Prashar and even Ashu’s better half Mamta lost the recently held MC poll here.
