Former diplomat Sanjiv Arora joins Congress

Asked why he chose the Congress over any other political party, Sanjiv Arora says he is impressed by the party’s ideology.

Former diplomat Sanjiv Arora joined the Congress in the presence of party president Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi. A native of Hoshiarpur, Sanjiv is the brother of former chief election commissioner of India, Sunil Arora.

Sanjiv Arora.

“I am looking forward to discharge responsibilities assigned to me by the party,” the 1984- batch Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer said while interacting with the media here on Wednesday.

The BJP has already fielded Taranjit Singh Sandhu, a former IFS officer, who is making his electoral debut in the Lok Sabha polls from Amritsar.

Before starting his new innings, Sanjiv came here to visit his alma mater, Vidya Mandir School and DAV School and then left for Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple.

When asked why he had chosen the Congress over any other political party, he said he was impressed with the party’s ideology.

“Congress’ history is entwined with freedom struggle. Late Pt Jawaharlal Nehru laid a firm foundation for our country to grow into a world power and for our defense and foreign policies to expand,” he added.

“It was not without reason that a global statesman, Barack Obama, held former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh in high esteem and called him a man of uncommon wisdom and decency,” he added.

Arora said India’s defence and diplomatic prowess came from years of hard work and concerted efforts of different wings of the government and attributing it to a particular leader of the current dispensation was a “travesty of truth”. He hoped that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had the vision and empathy to take the nation to new heights.

Arora wished his former colleague good luck but remarked that Sandhu had joined the “wrong party”.