This fitness buff gets his energy from people

Once considered very close to Captain Amarinder Singh, Aman Arora left Congress and joined AAP in 2016 ahead of the 2017 Punjab Assembly elections. He says he was  impressed by AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal’s ideology and dedication to bring a change in the political system.

In 2017, Arora won from Sunam defeating the then Congress’ Daman Thind Bajwa by a margin of 30,307 votes. Bajwa is now in BJP.

In 2017, Arora’s assets were around Rs 65.88 crore, while liabilities stood at approximately Rs 15 crore. By 2022, his assets rose to Rs 95.12 crore, while liabilities remained at Rs 20 crore. Arora headed the AAP election campaign committee in 2019 Lok Sabha polls in which Bhagwant Mann won from Sangrur seat. However, in the recently held Sangrur parliamentary bypoll, his constituency could give AAP a lead of only 1400 votes.

A day in life: A two-time MLA , Arora was inducted in the Cabinet in July  when the government was in expansion mode and not in  March , immediately after the party came to power. Being a cabinet minister, he  comes to his constituency on the weekends while he works in his office  in Chandigarh, visits various parts of the state and completes other responsibilities as well.

He says,”My office in Sunam has been running for long now and  people visit it for their day to day work. There is a staff of about 13-14 people in that office always available for masses 24×7.  However, people do meet me on weekends in Sunam. I am the same Aam Aadmi as I used to be earlier.”

He runs a charitable hospital in Sunam  where people come to avail services at subsidised rates. He says,  “I learnt social service  from my father, I am just carrying forward his legacy.”

Work accomplished: He says he has been able to streamline ongoing development works . He has bought fire tenders for Sunam and multicrore projects are in pipeline.

Work in progress

One stadium is set to come up in ITI Sunam ,l along with a walking trail and two new bus stands at the cost of 23 crore. Other projects include a new sub tehsil complex in Cheema town, and a new stadium at Longowal. He says the CM has approved  construction of 19 small roads and 13-14 big roads in the constituency, few bridges too will  come up. “All these projects will change the skyline of the constituency. In addition to this the sewer widening work is being carried out to provide relief to the city area.

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“In the urban housing development sector  which is my cabinet portfolio,  unauthorised colonies will be a thing of the past now in Punjab. Legal colonies will be promoted. We are working on a complete overhaul of the urban development plan. “

Challenges: We have come in power with the support of masses and hence find no challenges.

Controversies ( if any): A PU graduate, Arora was made co-convener of AAP, Punjab unit, in May 2017, but he resigned from this post in March 2019 when Kejriwal apologised to SAD leader Bikramjeet Singh Majithia in a defamation suit.