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Harbhajan, Raghav Chadha among 5 nominated by AAP to Rajya Sabha
The AAP nominees, who also included LPU chancellor Ashok Mittal and Ludhiana industrialist Sanjeev Arora, are set to get elected unopposed as no other party fielded any candidate
Former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, Delhi MLA Raghav Chadha and IIT-Delhi faculty Sandeep Pathak are among the five Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidates who filed their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha from Punjab on Monday amid criticism by rival parties for fielding people from outside the state.
The AAP nominees, who also included Lovely Professional University chancellor Ashok Mittal and Ludhiana industrialist Sanjeev Arora, filed their nominations for the five vacancies arising in Rajya Sabha from the state next month. The nomination papers were filed with secretary, Punjab Vidhan Sabha, who is the returning office for the March 31 Rajya Sabha elections. Chief minister Bhagwant Mann and cabinet minister Harpal Singh Cheema were also present.
The AAP scored a historic triumph in the Punjab polls, winning 92 of the 117 assembly seats. All five AAP candidates are set to get elected unopposed as no other party fielded any candidate. Monday was the last day for filing of nominations.
The five seats are falling vacant as the term of office of Rajya Sabha members Partap Singh Bajwa, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Shamsher Singh Dullo, Naresh Gujral and Shwait Malik is due to expire on April 9. Rajya Sabha members have a term of six years.
Bajwa and Dullo are from the Congress, whereas Malik belongs to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Dhindsa and Gujral were elected from the SAD in 2016 but the former later quit the party. Of these five seats, three are being filled by holding one election and the other two through another election as these seats belong to two different biennial cycles. The scrutiny of nominations will be done on Tuesday and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is March 24, according to officials.
‘Big responsibility, will give our best’
After filing his nomination papers, Harbhajan, 41, who has his roots in Jalandhar, said he has served the country earlier and will try to give his best. “My immediate focus will be on sports as Punjab has been among the laggards. I work on involving youth and creating world-class infrastructure,” said one of India’s most successful off-spinners.
Pathak, who is also the new Punjab affairs co-incharge, said AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Mann have shown their trust in him. “It is a huge responsibility. I will fight to protect the interests of Punjab,” said Pathak, an IIT-Delhi associate professor and Cambridge University alumni who caught everyone’s attention after Kejriwal on Sunday lauded his role in the AAP’s resounding victory in Punjab, giving him credit for designing the campaign strategy and building the organisation.
Chadha, 33, a trusted aide of Kejriwal, said he will try his best to raise issues of Punjab and the country in the Rajya Sabha and come up to his party’s expectations with utmost integrity and sincerity. An MLA from Rajendra Nagar in Delhi, he was appointed the Punjab affairs in-charge in December 2020 and remained in the thick of things till Monday. He had also led the charge against then Congress chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on illegal sand mining.
Ashok Mittal, 58, is the founder chancellor of Lovely Professional University (LPU). The Mittal family started Lovely Sweets in Jalandhar and later entered into the automobiles business. Set up in 2005, the LPU is one of the largest universities in India. Sanjeev Arora, 58, is into real estate and hosiery business. He runs an export business for the past three decades and diversified into real estate in 2006, developing Hampton Business Park and Hampton Homes in Ludhiana. He also runs the Krishna Pran Breast Cancer Charitable Trust.
AAP picks rile rivals
The nominations riled the opposition parties which have questioned the AAP’s choices, particularly Chadha and Pathak, asking the party why they could they not find candidates from among three crore people of the state. Congress MLAs Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring asked the chief minister and his party not to send non-Punjabis and businessmen to Rajya Sabha
Khaira said these names are the first discrimination with the state and a joke with the AAP workers who have worked the party. “People of the state have not voted for the AAP for this. Please stand by Punjab,” Khaira said, reminding Mann his commitment to nominate Bibi Paramjit Khalra, victim of police brutality and champion of human rights, to the Rajya Sabha.
Warring said the AAP has nominated businessmen, stating that they run NGOs. “There are several other prominent social workers who run well-known NGOs. Why did not they pick anyone of them? Why Raghav Chadha and Pathak? The Delhi durbar has had his way,” the former cabinet minister said.
AAP wants to rob state of its water share: Badal
On a thanksgiving tour in Lambi that he lost to first-timer AAP leader Gurmeet Singh Khudian by 11,396 votes, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) patriarch Parkash Singh Badal accused the AAP of depriving Punjab of its right by nominating outsiders as the Upper House members. The five-time CM went on to say that the AAP’s next move would be snatching the state’s legitimate water share.
“The party’s move has left me disappointed as it has robbed Punjabis of their right to have a representation in the Rajya Sabha. Why have people from Delhi been nominated when the votes of Punjab MLAs are going to matter? Their next move will be staking claim to the state water share. They will rule Punjab from Delhi,” he said.
BJP state general secretary Subhash Sharma said this was an autocratic decision imposed by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal on the people of Punjab. SAD (Sanyukt) leader Parminder Singh Dhindsa said non-Punjabis, businessmen and industrialists can never represent the state.
Congress’ Phillaur MLA Vikramjit Singh Chaudhary said the AAP made a big issue of putting up photos of Shaheed Bhagat Singh in government offices, but to pay him a real tribute, the party should send a member of his family to the Rajya Sabha. “I request the CM to dedicate one Rajya Sabha seat to Shaheed Bhagat Singh. This will be a real tribute to his memory,” he added.
Hitting back, finance minister Harpal Singh Cheema said they (Chadha and Pathak) are both leaders of the AAP and have been working for it for a long time. “We have given (Rajya Sabha) tickets to industrialists to promote industry. They will all work to protect Punjab’s interests. I want to ask them are these people from Italy? Why didn’t they say anything when (Congress leader and former PM) Dr Manmohan Singh was sent to Rajya Sabha from Assam?” he said. People have given their mandate to Bhagwant Mann, Arvind Kejriwal and the AAP and the opposition parties should accept this and focus their energies on constructive politics.
