After big win, Sanjeev Arora’s likely Cabinet induction to create Rajya Sabha vacancy for top AAP leader

Having won the Ludhiana West bypoll, the Aam Aadmi Party is now gearing up for a Cabinet expansion. The newly elected MLA, Sanjeev Arora, will be inducted as a minister in this upcoming expansion.

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His election as MLA means that he will resign as the party’s Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament, thus paving a way for any of the top party leaders to replace him.

According to party sources, the Cabinet expansion is expected “very soon”. AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal had announced during Arora’s campaign that, when elected, Arora would be inducted in the Cabinet as a minister.

Though the department to be given to Arora, a prominent industrialist, is still a closely guarded secret with the AAP leadership, there is political speculation of at least one minister being asked to step down and portfolios of some to be reshuffled.

Meanwhile, the electoral win in Ludhiana West came as a big morale booster for AAP, after they lost in the Delhi Assembly elections in February earlier this year. With Ludhiana West bypoll — necessitated after the sudden death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi — being made a battle of prestige by AAP, the stakes for the party were high. No wonder the party’s Punjab in-charges — Manish Sisodia and Satyendra Jain — campaigned here rigorously. Even AAP National Convenor Kejriwal, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his wife, Dr Gurpreet Kaur Mann, held many road shows and meetings.

With Ludhiana West having almost 65 per cent of Hindu voters and mostly traders and businessmen — the traditional BJP voters — and Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu having won from there in 2012 and 2017, the AAP faced a tough challenge. The ruling party not only had a first person advantage — AAP was the first to announce its candidate in March — but Arora being a first time contestant, also did not carry any past political baggage like Congress candidate Ashu. Also, with almost 19 months still left for the 2027 Assembly polls, the voters went with the ruling party, giving AAP a much needed political win.