Punjab: Newly elected Ludhiana West MLA Sanjeev Arora sworn-in as Cabinet minister
Bhagwant Mann
on Thursday expanded his Cabinet, inducting newly elected Ludhiana West MLA
Sanjeev Arora
as minister.
Governor Gulab Chand Kataria administered oath of office and secrecy to Arora at a ceremony at the Raj the Bhavan here.
Mann, Cabinet ministers and several other party leaders were present on the occasion.
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With Arora's induction, the strength of the Cabinet in the Mann government reached 17. The Punjab Cabinet can have 18 ministers, including the chief minister.
The AAP government had carried out its last cabinet rejig in September last year when it inducted five new ministers after dropping four.
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Arora, 61, is a Ludhiana-based industrialist and is also known for his social welfare work. He runs the Krishna Pran
Breast Cancer Charitable Trust
.
The businessman-turned-politician became
Rajya Sabha
member from Punjab in 2022.
On Tuesday, he submitted his resignation from the Upper House to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who accepted it.
Arora was elected as an MLA in the June 19 Ludhiana West assembly bypoll after defeating Congress candidate Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes. The bypoll was necessitated following the death of AAP MLA
Gurpreet Bassi Gogi
in January.
Aam Aadmi Party
(AAP) supremo Arvind Kejriwal had said during the bypoll campaign that Arora would be made a minister, if elected as legislator.
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