Newsmaker | Sunder Sham Arora: Former Punjab minister in police net, switched from Congress to BJP in June

The former Hoshiarpur MLA was part of the Amarinder Singh-led Cabinet but was dropped after Charanjit Singh Channi became CM last year.

A Congress leader said Arora made it big as a real-estate businessman and his journey to politics was facilitated by his proximity to former Congress minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. (File)

Former Punjab Cabinet minister and two-term Congress MLA Sunder Sham Arora was arrested by the state Vigilance Bureau late on Saturday. The 63-year-old, who is currently in the BJP, was arrested for allegedly offering a Rs 50-lakh bribe to an officer of the bureau in return for exoneration in a corruption case.

A Congress leader said Arora made it big as a real-estate businessman and his journey to politics was facilitated by his proximity to former Congress minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh. Arora contested his first Assembly election from Hoshiarpur on a Congress ticket in 2012. Following Jagjit Singh’s death in August 2015, the then MLA was among those who became close to leaders such as Ambika Soni and Asha Kumari.

“He was later associated with senior leader Ambika Soni, who traces her family roots to Hoshiarpur district,” said the Congress functionary. “Arora also got political patronage from another senior leader, Asha Kumari, the former All India Congress Committee in-charge for Punjab and went on to bag a Cabinet berth in the first expansion of the council of ministers by then CM Amarinder Singh in 2018.”

Story continues below this ad

Arora was handed charge of the Industry and Commerce portfolio. The Vigilance Bureau is investigating his alleged involvement in a multi-crore scam in the allotment of industrial plots belonging to the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC).

Arora’s time in power was cut short when Charanjit Singh Channi replaced Amarinder Singh as the CM in September 2021, five months ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections. In the February 20 elections, the 63-year-old lost his seat to Brahm Shankar Jimpa of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Jimpa became a first-time MLA and is the current minister for revenue and water resources in the Bhagwant Mann-led government.

In the first week of June, Arora joined the BJP along with his former Cabinet colleagues Balbir Singh Sidhu, Raj Kumar Verka, and Gurpreet Singh Kangar. Last month and earlier this week, the Vigilance Bureau quizzed Arora twice in connection with the allegations against him. Addressing a press conference in Mohali on Sunday, Additional Director General of Police and Punjab Vigilance Bureau chief Varinder Kumar said the former minister was arrested as he had allegedly tried to bribe an officer with Rs 50 lakh the night before. The former minister also allegedly promised to pay the officer another Rs 50 lakh if he got exonerated in the ongoing inquiry against him.