AAP fields its Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora for Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll
Earlier, Punjab Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa had claimed that AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal was planning to contest the bypoll in Ludhiana.
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Sources said Sanjeev Arora, an industrialist based in Ludhiana, would not resign from his Rajya Sabha membership immediately. (File Photo: ANI)The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Wednesday declared Sanjeev Arora, its Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, as a candidate in the Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll which is to be held before July 11.
The demise of incumbent AAP MLA Gurpreet Singh Gogi on January 11 has necessitated a bypoll in the constituency and as per the rules, an Assembly seat cannot remain vacant for more than six months.
Sources said Arora, an industrialist based in Ludhiana, would not resign immediately from Rajya Sabha. However, the contest will be keenly watched since the Opposition Congress had claimed that former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is eyeing a Rajya Sabha seat.
Kejriwal lost the New Delhi Assembly seat to BJP’s Parvesh Verma by over 4,000 votes in the recently held Delhi elections.
AAP leaders, however, denied that there is any plan to accommodate Kejriwal. The AAP has seven Rajya Sabha MPs from Punjab, including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, cricketer Harbhajan Singh, educationist Ashok Mittal, environmentalist and religious leader Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, entrepreneur Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Sanjeev Arora.
Earlier, Partap Singh Bajwa, the Leader of Opposition in the state, had claimed that Kejriwal is planning to contest the Assembly bypoll in Ludhiana but the AAP hit back saying that Kejriwal is its national convener and he had to strengthen the party at the national level. Party insiders added that securing a Rajya Sabha membership would be a cakewalk for Kejriwal if he did decide to do so.
Nominated by the AAP to Rajya Sabha in 2022, MP Sanjeev Arora is also a philanthropist and runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust in Ludhiana.
In October last year, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched multiple locations linked to Arora, including his camp office at Hampton Homes, a luxury colony developed by his company at Chandigarh Road in Ludhiana.
The land was allotted to Ritesh Properties and Industries Ltd, one of the companies owned by Arora, for industrial purposes. However, it was allegedly used fraudulently for a residential project.
Arora is the Chairman and Managing Director of Ritesh Properties and Industries Limited (RPIL), a company with business interests in real estate, women’s clothing and fashion industry.
The company has developed Hampton Court Business Park, a sprawling industrial park on Chandigarh Road in Ludhiana.
AAP MLA Gurpreet Gogi, whose demise has led to the bypoll, succumbed to a bullet injury in his head. His widow Sukhchain Bassi was also vying for a party ticket from Ludhiana West.
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