CM should be decided on merit, not religion: Sanjeev Arora

Amid the ongoing political slugfest between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP over the 38 per cent Hindu voters in the state, Industry, Investment Promotion and Power Minister Sanjeev Arora has said that the leader of any party should be chosen on merit alone and not on the basis of his religion, as India is a democracy.

In an interview to The Tribune, Arora, when asked if political parties in Punjab were considering bringing in a Hindu leader as CM, said he could not decide who would be the CM. “This is the prerogative of the party. When elections are contested, the MLAs decide who the leader of the party would be, to head the government. They do not chose a Sikh or a Hindu. Like in everything else, merit reigns in this decision… we live in a secular country,” he said.

The state’s ruling AAP is taking significant steps to woo the Hindu voters, in an attempt to thwart the threat from the BJP, which is gaining political traction in Punjab.

The ruling party has recently launched a Sanatan Sewa Samiti and also promised to enact a Hindu Temple Act. AAP was the first party to stir the state’s political pot by bringing in a Hindu leader, Aman Arora, as the state unit president late last year. The state AAP chief, too, has said earlier that political parties need to get out of the myopic vision of choosing only a Sikh as the top leader.

Arora categorically said that he never sought the post of the Deputy Chief Minister when he agreed to contest the Ludhiana (West) bypoll. “I had nothing in mind that I want some particular ministry or a post. I feel blessed that all leaders in the party and all my cabinet colleagues welcomed me and have guided me in my new role as minister,” he said, denying that his elevation had ruffled feathers of other ministers in the Mann cabinet.

Arora, who recently got the portfolio of Power Minister, said the power subsidy to both domestic and agriculture consumers would continue. “The government, with help from the Punjab Development Council, was trying to decrease the power consumption in the agriculture sector, where canal water in now increasingly being used for irrigation. The use of pumps in the fields has come down. Though there is no shortage of power in Punjab, we need to increase the efficiency of the state power utilities by upgrading the transmission and distribution lines,” he said.

For the past one week, Arora has been busy meeting industrialists to get feedback on the new industrial policy that will help take the state on industrial growth trajectory. “My focus is on the home grown industry and helping them scale up their operations besides helping them go in for high value goods. That is the way forward,” he said.