Arvind Khanna

Khanna was born on 29 May 1967 in New Delhi, India.[8] Khanna comes from a prominent family. His father, Vipin Khanna, was a powerful businessman.[9][10] Khanna's mother, Naginder Khanna, was the daughter of Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala.[11] Khanna attended school at Millfield in Somerset, England.[12] He attended college at Pepperdien University in California, from where he graduated in 1989 with a degree in business management.[13] In 1991, Khanna came back to Delhi and joined his family business.[14]

Khanna was introduced to politics by Sukhbir Singh Badal of the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1997, and became the Akali Dal's general secretary of district youth wing.[15] Khanna and Sukhbir Badal are known to be close friends.[16][17] In 1998, he joined the Indian National Congress and served as a party treasurer.[18] Khanna has been elected as a member of legislative assembly (MLA) twice. In the 2002 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, Khanna contested from Sangrur, and secured 42,339 votes (44.2%), winning by a margin of 19,132 votes.[19] In 2004, he contested from the Sangrur Lok Sabha Constituency, and lost by few votes against Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. In the 2012 Punjab Legislative Assembly election, he won from Dhuri by securing 51,536 votes (45.65%).[20] However, in May 2014, he resigned as an MLA, and then left the Congress in 2015.[21][22] Khanna stated that his reasons for leaving politics were to focus on his businesses and spend time with his family.[23] Rumours also circulated that he was discontent with the Punjab Congress.[24] However apart from brief statements to the press, Khanna himself never publicly went into details about his discontent.[25] During his time in the Punjab Congress, Khanna was known to be the party's main financial backer.[26]

Khanna (near left) joining BJP in 2022. Union Cabinet Ministers Hardeep Singh Puri (far right), Gajendra Singh Shekhawat (near right) and politician Manjinder Singh Sirsa (far left) are handing Khanna flowers

Khanna and former Chief Minister of Punjab, Captain Amarinder Singh, are first cousins.[16] They are related through Khanna's mother, Naginder, who was Singh's paternal aunt.[11][27] During his time in the Congress Party, Khanna was perceived to be Amarinder Singh's right hand man and blue-eyed boy, and was known to essentially control any access to Singh.[28][29][30] Khanna would regularly provide his private jet and helicopter for Amarinder's use.[31][32] In his visits to Chandigarh, Amarinder would always stay in Khanna's house in Sector 10.[33]

In 2021, media speculation arose that Khanna may be joining the Akali Dal, and contesting from Sangrur in the 2022 elections.[34] In 2022, Khanna reentered politics and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in the presence of Union Cabinet Ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Hardeep Singh Puri.[35][36] Khanna is a senior BJP Punjab leader, and is a prominent figure of BJP Punjab.[37][38] He is the BJP's candidate from Sangrur for the 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly Elections.[39]

Khanna is the founder of several companies, which include TSL Defence Technologies, ASAS Global Services, ASAS Tech Solutions, ASAS Tech, Root Invest, Umeed Urban Solutions, Umeed Projects.[46][47] He has also been one of the owners of the Punjab Kings, an Indian Premier League cricket team.[48][49][50]

Khanna's father, Vipin Khanna was allegedly one of the biggest and most powerful players in the defence and arms Industry in India.[51][52][53][54] Khanna himself owned a defence company called TSL Defence Technologies.[46] Khanna and his family have been investigated and accused in several defence deals. However the investigations into Khanna and his family never resulted in any convictions and never proved any wrongdoing.[55][56]

In 2009, Israel Military Industries (IMI) was awarded a contract by the Ordnance Factory Board (OFB), to build a factory to produce artillery charges.[57] The Central Bureau of Investigation had accused Khanna's company, TSL Defence Technologies and its employees, on influencing the contract on IMI's behalf with senior members of OFB.[57][58][59] The Delhi High Court later acquitted Khanna and his company.[55]

On 23 October 2000, the Indian Navy had placed an order on Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), to procure 262 Barak Missiles.[60] Khanna and his family were accused by the CBI of having influenced the deal in favour of IAI, receiving kickbacks from the company, and it was also suspected that the companies owned by Khanna and his family had received huge payments.[61][62][63] Eventually, the case against Khanna and his family was closed due to lack of evidence.[56]

Khanna and his family were also accused by the CBI in receiving payments from South African Arms firm Denel. In 2003, Denel had received an order by the Indian Army to supply 1200 bunker buster anti-material rifles.[54] The CBI had suspected Khanna and his family of receiving 12.75 percent in commission for being able to clinch the contract in Denel's favour, and to influence the Indian Army's Price Negotiation Committee.[64] However Khanna and his family had denied any involvement in the Denel deal, and eventually the CBI filed a closure report due to lack of evidence.[65][66]

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI had filed a chargesheet on Khanna's father Vipin, in connection to the Embraer aircraft deal.[67] The ED had filed a chargesheet on Vipin for receiving commission in favour of swinging the deal in Embraer's favour.[68] Embraer had won an order to supply 3 fully modified EBM-145 Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) to the Indian Airforce and according to the ED investigation, Embraer had entered into a contract with Vipin to use him to influence Ministry of Defence officials.[69][70][71]

In 1997, Khanna founded an NGO named Umeed (meaning hope) in Sangrur.[72][73] Umeed is one of the largest NGOs in Punjab and since its inception, Umeed has reached out to 550 villages and has benefited 12 million people of diverse communities with services in healthcare, social empowerment and community development.[74][75][76]

Khanna is an avid golf player who has competed in many golf tournaments in India and has also been the head of the Professional Golfers Association of India (PGI).[77][78] Khanna has been instrumental in growing and popularising professional golf in India.[79][80] In 2006, Khanna's company Tiger Sports set up, managed and marketed the first Professional Golf Tour of India.[80][81] Khanna has also helped young Indian golfers with their international promotions.[82]

Khanna is married to Shagun Khanna, a lifestyle blogger. They have two sons; Adhiraj and Suryaveer.[83][84]