Aam Aadmi Party nominates Rajya Sabha MP for Ludhiana West Assembly bypoll

India Today

AAP names Sanjeev Arora for Ludhiana West by-election after MLA Gurpreet Gogi's demise, with talks of a Rajya Sabha seat for Kejriwal.

Transcript

00:00All right, news now coming in Aam Aadmi Party announces Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora as

00:05the party candidate for Ludhiana West Assembly by elections.

00:09Speculations were on in this regard about Sanjeev Arora, but that also means that the

00:15speculation goes could that then vacate a seat in the Rajya Sabha and could that vacated

00:21seat go to Harvind Kejriwal.

00:24Let me now bring in my colleague Asim Basi for the latest on that.

00:27Asim, when are we expecting the Ludhiana West Assembly by election and interesting that

00:32a Rajya Sabha MP has been chosen to contest for it.

00:36Well, I would like to tell you that in January, the Aam Aadmi Party sitting MLA from Ludhiana

00:43West, Gurpreet Gogi died and after that the seat went vacant.

00:48And since then, although the election commission has not announced the poll till now, but any

00:53constancy that was vacant has to be filled up within six months.

00:56So before even the announcement of this election commission, Aam Aadmi Party, there were speculations

01:02in Aam Aadmi Party circles that Sanjeev Arora may be given, the Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora

01:07who is an industrialist, may be given the ticket from this Ludhiana West constancy to

01:12pay way for Kejriwal to become Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab.

01:16We spoke to the Congress leaders yesterday, Prasad Bajwa, he said, yes, there looks a

01:21lot of meat in this.

01:22And even we spoke to Pargat Singh, he also said that Kejriwal should not come to Punjab

01:26in an indirect way, he should come directly and contest from Ludhiana West.

01:30Although Aam Aadmi Party, Finance Minister Harpal Seema and others were denying it yesterday.

01:35But today, this announcement of Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West.

01:37And do you think this announcement clearly paves way?

01:39Any word from the Aam Aadmi Party on this?

01:41Because it's very interesting that you would vacate a Rajya Sabha MP seat and is it to

01:47fill in for the shoes for now Arvind Kejriwal?

01:50Now also tell me, so this, Aseem, any word then yet from the AAP on this, that if the

01:56seat is vacated of the Rajya Sabha, who else will it go to if not Arvind Kejriwal?

02:01Well not yet because Aam Aadmi Party, Punjab Chief Aam Aadmi Arora is holding a press conference

02:05at 12 today and we are expecting a word from him because this development has taken place

02:10right now.

02:11But definitely, if a Rajya Sabha member is being asked to vacate a seat and contest a

02:15by-poll in Punjab, that means definitely he's going to pave way for something big.

02:20Because he will not do it, this is not a very ordinary move where a Rajya Sabha MP is being

02:23asked to step down and contest an assembly by-poll.

02:27So I think something big is in the offing and the political speculations are that Kejriwal

02:32might be adjusted from Punjab as a Sabhananda.

02:35Stay on with me, Aseem, let's listen in to more reactions also that have come in.

02:40Because remember this is very interesting, seven Rajya Sabha members are elected by the

02:45members of the Punjab State Legislature, one of them has been told to contest the upcoming

02:50Ludhiana by-polls.

02:51Who will that seat go to?

02:53The speculation has been rife, it will be the AAP convener, let's listen in to reactions.

03:15We're going to be on this story because I think it's a very interesting development

03:29because Aseem, you tell me, from your understanding, in the Aam Aadmi Party, how will they be viewing

03:36this?

03:37Like you're saying many have said should come directly, possibly get elected, possibly

03:41lead if required, but nevertheless right now that's not a possibility, the possibility

03:45is to be a Rajya Sabha MP, get into the Parliament, be a part of the debates, make your presence

03:49felt.

03:50Yeah I think with Kejriwal losing the elections himself also, his seat also, this has not

03:57left him in much option now because there were speculations earlier that he may come

04:01in direct as the opposition is also attacking him saying that he must come direct and fight

04:06a direct poll in Punjab, but that option is closed now with Sanjeev Arora being chosen

04:10as the party candidate.

04:11But definitely if Sanjeev Arora is asked to step down as a Rajya Sabha member and contest

04:16the by-polls, I think this is a strategy to pave way for Kejriwal, although AAP was denying

04:21it since yesterday, they were even denying that even if Sanjeev Arora will be floated,

04:26but now once this has happened, it will be good what AAP says today because this clearly

04:32looks that the party is thinking around adjusting Kejriwal so that he goes to one house of the

04:37parliament and raise his voice for the, for his party.

04:40Alright, so that's a big news coming in that Aam Aadmi Party has fielded one of their Rajya

04:45Sabha MP.

04:46Also tell me briefly about this member of parliament, Sanjeev Arora, he's been an industrialist,

04:51he clearly comes from a fairly stable family, so it wouldn't really be much of a different,

04:57difference for him, but is, is he known to the state of Punjab, is he known to the political

05:01circles, to the public in Punjab?

05:05He's a philanthropist and he's an industrialist, he has a real estate business as well, most

05:10of the time he lives in Gurgaon, but I would just tell you that he's never been into direct

05:13politics.

05:14Rajya Sabha is always a backdoor entry and what is made after 2022 when Aam Aadmi Party

05:20came to power in Punjab, he was given that Rajya Sabha ticket, but direct elections he

05:24has not been, he has to work very hard because he's a direct poll and he has to be within

05:29the constituency, within the people of Haryana to impress upon voters, so it will be a different

05:32ball game for him, but the big news is that he stepped down from something really big

05:38and now to contest for a by-poll.

05:39Alright, we'll be tracking that, Aseem stay on with me, because right now remember with

05:45the Rajya Sabha MP, that's one possibility, remember for Arvind Kejriwal to stay present

05:51and relevant in political circles right now, will this vacated seat go to Arvind Kejriwal

05:57or will he want to give it to someone else, we'll be tracking that.

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