New Delhi: Following backlash over reports suggesting that he is planning to enter the Rajya Sabha through Punjab, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal is said to have declined the offer.
Apparently, a report submitted by senior Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Satyendra Jain after touring Punjab prompted Kejriwal to refuse the offer.
Multiple sources informed NewsDrum that Jain had pointed out to the growing public perception in the border state that the Delhi leadership was running Punjab.
Kejriwal's entry to the Rajya Sabha would have strengthened that perception and given credence to allegations that there was too much interference from Delhi in Punjab matters, thus undermining chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann's position.
NewsDrum had reported on Tuesday that AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjeev Arora will contest the by-elections from Ludhiana West, paving the way for Kejriwal's entry into the Upper House of Parliament.
On Wednesday, the AAP named Arora its candidate from Ludhiana West.
Kejriwal is said to have resisted the pressure from party colleagues and all six Rajya Sabha members from Punjab as they had insisted that he should come to the Rajya Sabha to not only guide the AAP in Parliament but also keep up the attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government.
It was also reported that Arora would be inducted into the Punjab cabinet if he won the bypolls.
This prompted BJP national spokesperson Amit Malviya to attack Kejriwal.
In a post on X, Malviya said, “Is this being done to clear the path for Arvind Kejriwal, who just lost his own seat in New Delhi, to get nominated to the Rajya Sabha from Punjab? Wouldn’t it be better if someone from Punjab represented the state instead of Kejriwal?”
Even Kejriwal's estranged party colleague and Rajya Sabha member Swati Maliwal took a veiled jibe at him, saying for the power, once he called himself a son of Delhi, once the son of Haryana and now the son of Punjab.
Maliwal, who distanced herself from the AAP after being assaulted by Kejriwal's PA Bibhav Kumar at party chief's residence, published a post on X in Hindi, "Kursi ke liye - kabhi Delhi ka beta, kabhi Haryana ka laal, ab Punjab da puttar."
/newsdrum-in/media/agency_attachments/2025/01/29/2025-01-29t072616888z-nd_logo_white-200-niraj-sharma.jpg){kind=logo}
/newsdrum-in/media/member_avatars/white-bg.jpg )
Follow Us/newsdrum-in/media/media_files/2025/02/03/yIfpBSUvDLGfzmDZKcPX.jpg)