Chandigarh, Feb 26 (IANS) Delhi’s Food Supply and Industry Minister Manjinder Singh Sirsa on Wednesday said Punjabis will never allow AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal to become a Rajya Sabha member from Punjab.
He urged the people of Ludhiana (West) to ensure the defeat of Sanjiv Arora in the by-election so as to crush the dream of Kejriwal.
Sirsa said Kejriwal is a “power-hungry person who cannot live without power”, adding that after getting badly defeated in Delhi, he tried to convince Punjab MLAs to elect him as their leader so that he could become Chief Minister.
He said the MLAs flatly refused to toe his orders, saying that Punjabis would oppose them forcefully when they will enter villages.
Sirsa said now Kejriwal has nominated Rajya Sabha member Sanjiv Arora to contest the election from Ludhiana (West) and has promised to make him a minister in lieu of his Rajya Sabha seat.
“Kejriwal wants to enter the Parliament from Punjab by getting elected Rajya Sabha member,” he said.
The BJP national Secretary further said the people of Punjab will never allow the plan of Kejriwal to succeed as they will give Arora a crushing defeat in the by-poll thereby dream of Kejriwal to become a Rajya Sabha member will remain unfulfilled.
He said the defeat of AAP in the Ludhiana by-poll will also lay the foundation for the ouster of AAP in the 2027 elections as it will meet the same fate which it has met in Delhi.
Saying this bye-election is to prepare cadres for the future polls, AAP's Punjab spokesperson Neel Garg dubbed the claims of the Opposition as rumours regarding either party supremo Kejriwal or Sisodia replacing Arora in the Rajya Sabha.
“The BJP rumour mills are working overtime. As of now, the election for Ludhiana (West) has not even been announced. Arora has been chosen as the party candidate because of his popularity in Ludhiana. He has not even resigned from the Rajya Sabha membership. He can’t contest the by-election without resigning,” Garg told the media here.
Justifying the party’s decision, Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kultar Sandhwan said a party can nominate anyone to the Rajya Sabha from anywhere.
“It’s their right. What is the illegality in this? Even Manmohan Singh went to the Rajya Sabha from another state. The party will decide who will be fielded and anyone they field I will welcome it,” Sandhwan said.
The Ludhiana (West) seat fell vacant with the demise of Gurpreet Gogi Bassi, 58, who died after sustaining a gunshot wound in his head at his house last month.
The Election Commission of India is yet to announce the election schedule for the seat. Kejriwal lost the New Delhi seat to BJP’s Parvesh Verma in the just-concluded Assembly elections.
