Chandigarh: Reacting to the raid at chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s camp office on Tuesday, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leadership accused the Modi-led BJP of resorting to blatant misuse of central investigative agencies. The party said the CBI raid just months before the Assembly elections exposes BJP’s desperation to gain a foothold in the state.In a press statement, Mann said out that the BJP has always pushed Punjabis aside, whether on the farmers’ protest, Punjab’s water or Panjab University, and has now turned its agencies against the elected Chief Minister of Punjab.The chief minister said the CBI raid at his camp office is part of the BJP’s preparations for the Punjab elections and claimed that the ED) and CBI would now be misused to defame the Punjab Government and him. He said the BJP was rattled by the love and support he was receiving from the people of Punjab.Meanwhile, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said, “The CBI raid at the Punjab Chief Minister’s (camp) office two months before the elections is a result of the BJP’s panic. Ever since the BJP govt came to power at the Centre, it has always pushed Punjabis aside. Whether it was the Kisan Andolan, the issue of Punjab’s water, the issue of Panjab University, and now it is even acting against their elected chief minister.”“The BJP cannot win Punjab by fighting elections, so it wants to fight the elections with the help of the ED and CBI. But Punjabis have made up their minds, and in the upcoming elections, they will respond to the BJP’s CBI raid by giving Mann more than 100 seats and making him the Chief Minister again,” he saidAAP leader Manish Sisodia posted on X, “While there is an uproar across the country over Operation Gyanesh Kumar, the CBI has been sent to Punjab as the BJP’s advance party for the elections. This raid is proof not of strength, but of panic.”Cabinet Minister Harpal Singh Cheema asserted, “The BJP’s desperation is clearly visible ahead of the elections. Attempts are being made to defame the Mann-led govt by conducting a CBI raid at CM’s camp office. Punjab’s voice cannot be suppressed through the misuse of agencies such as the ED and CBI. We will fight this battle from the streets to Parliament and will not tolerate any kind of arbitrariness.”Meanwhile, reacting to the CBI raid, Cabinet minister Aman Arora stated, “Through this CBI raid, the BJP has launched its 2027 election campaign. The BJP is panicking after seeing the work done by the Bhagwant Mann Government over the past nearly 4.5 years.”He continued, “At the grassroots level, people are not even ready to see the BJP, and in this panic, the BJP is misusing its investigative agencies to have this raid conducted. The people of Punjab are courageous and have always given a befitting reply to injustice. In the upcoming elections too, the people of Punjab will give the BJP a strong response to this ‘dhakka’ (high-handedness).”
