Surinderjeet Singh Ahluwalia is an Indian politician of the Bharatiya Janata Party and is its National Vice President. A former Union Minister of State in the Government of India, he is the member of Parliament of India representing Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal in the 17th Lok Sabha. Previously he was a Member of Parliament representing Bihar and Jharkhand in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament, over several terms, 1986–1992, 1992–1998, and with BJP in 2000–2006, and 2006–2012. He subsequently entered the Lok Sabha, winning the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections from Darjeeling. He was earlier a member of the Indian National Congress. He was elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar in 1986 as a Congress member. Over the years of his career, he has held the posts of Minister for Urban Development, and Minister of Parliamentary Affairs in the Union Government headed by P. V. Narasimha Rao. He joined BJP in 1999. He was Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha till 2012 when he lost his Rajya Sabha seat in the Jharkhand Rajya Sabha elections . He is at present a Member of the National Executive Committee of the BJP.
Career
Ahluwalia is a lawyer by education.
Political career
Ahluwalia was a Member of Parliament from Rajya Sabha representing Bihar and Jharkhand in 1986-1992, 1992-1998, 2000–2006, and 2006-2012. He was elected to the Lok Sabha from the Darjeeling Parliamentary Constituency of West Bengal with active support of a local unrecognized party Gorkha Janmukti Morcha in May 2014. He served as Minister of State for Urban Affairs and Employment and Parliamentary Affairs in P V Narasimha Rao Cabinet from 15 September 1995 to 16 May 1996. He was Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha from June 2010 to May 2012. He was inducted into the Union Council of Ministers as a Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare and Parliamentary Affairs on 5 July 2016.
Positions held
1984 - 86 Member, the G.S. Dhillon Committee constituted by Government of India for providing relief and rehabilitation to the victims of the November 1984 riots in the country
2002 - Attended the International Parliamentarians Association for Information Technology I Conference in Seoul, Korea as Chair of the Steering Committee and moderated over Theme 2.
2008 - Attended the International Parliamentarians Association for Information Technology VI Conference in Sofia, Bulgaria as Vice-President of IPAIT.
2010 - IPU: Served as Reporteur in the First Standing Committee on Peace & International Security in the 109th Assembly of IPU in Geneva. Served as Vice-President of the Standing Committee on Democracy and Human Rights in the 122nd IPU Assembly in Bangkok, Thailand.
2012 April - Farewell speech in the Rajya Sabha upon his retirement.
Joint Parliamentary Committees (JPC)
Aug 1992 - Member of Joint Parliamentary Committee to inquire into Irregularities in Securities and Banking Transactions
April 2001 - Member of Joint Parliamentary Committee on Stock Market Scam and matters relating thereto
August 2003 - Member of Joint Parliamentary Committee on pesticide residues in food products and safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other beverages
March 2011 - Member of Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the irregular allocation of 2G Spectrum
