Punjab Cabinet minister Aman Arora’s official vehicle was not allowed to enter the Chief Minister’s residence on Monday, necessitating an intervention by Chief Secretary K A P Sinha.
Arora, who is also the state president of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), had reached the chief minister’s residence ahead of the Cabinet meeting on Monday. Sources said that when the minister arrived, he was asked by the security personnel posted there to park the car outside. On this, Arora is learnt to have told the guards that he is a minister but the guards did not relent, sources added.
They said that after that Arora walked inside the gate, he took up the matter with Sinha, who had already reached the venue for the Cabinet meeting. It was after Sinha’s intervention that Arora’s vehicle was allowed inside.
Arora has also been assigned to welcome Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Gurdaspur, as Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is unwell and recuperating at a hospital in Mohali after he complained of exhaustion and low pulse rate.
Aman Arora had hit headlines last year when he had stated that a Hindu should also be made the chief minister in Sikh-majority Punjab and that caste should not come in the way.
Following this, Mann had told his colleagues in a subsequent Cabinet meeting that he was ready to quit if anybody wished to occupy the chair.
After calling the Cabinet meeting on Monday, Mann joined it virtually from the hospital while his colleagues and officers got together at the chief minister’s residence. Sources said that the cars of all other ministers were allowed to enter inside.
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Speaking about the incident involving Arora, a minister said that it was unnecessarily being turned into an issue. “There should not be any issue if someone’s car is parked outside due to security reasons,” he stated.
Minister Aman Arora was not available for comment.
