Former Mayor Arun Sood set to become next city BJP chief
Ramkrishan Upadhyay
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 16
Former Mayor Arun Sood will be the new president of the Chandigarh BJP after no other party leader filed nomination papers for the post today.
Sood filed the nomination papers before BJP national secretary Y Satya Kumar, who was appointed the observer by the party high command to conduct the election process.
Barring former Mayor Davesh Moudgil, all 39 leaders comprising the electoral council have signed the papers in Sood’s support.
The leaders who proposed his name included MP Kirron Kher, Chandra Shekhar, former Mayor Rajesh Kalia and Mayor Raj Bala Malik.
Sood filed four sets of papers before the observer.
Meanwhile, outgoing city BJP president Sanjay Tandon also filed papers for his nomination to the national council.
The official announcement on Sood’s appointment will be made tomorrow in the presence of Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, whom the BJP high command has appointed to complete the remaining part of the election process.
The time for filing of the nominations was 3 pm to 5 pm today. Several senior leaders, councillors and party office-bearers were present at the BJP office, Kamlam.
A close associate of Tandon, Sood had emerged as the front runner for the post when former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan came to seek the views of the leaders.
Rambir Bhatti, Satinder Singh and Davesh Moudgil were also in the fray for the post, but the party high command eventually selected Sood for the “challenging” job. Among the challenges for him will be the MC elections, which will be held in a year and a half, and ending factionalism in the party.
Despite having no political background, Sood has reached the top post of the city BJP. His parents retired as teachers. Sood joined the RSS in 1987. He was introduced to the city politics by Manohal Lal Khattar along with Sanjay Tandon. Sood also served as the state general secretary of the BJYM, Punjab, from 2000 to 2003. He was appointed the state secretary of the city BJP in 2007 and the state general secretary in 2010. He was elected councillor in December 2011 and Mayor in 2016.
A man of varied interests, Sood is a regular blood donor. He has done a basic mountaineering course at Manali and participated in the national air shooting competition. He has also done gliding and flying course from the Pinjore Aviation Club and secured the student pilot licence.
