CHANDIGARH: Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday slammed the BJP-led Centre after enforcement directorate (ED) raids at the residence of Punjab Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora. He accused the BJP of “politics of intimidation” against non-BJP state govts, alleging that democracy is being strangled.Mann told media persons, “We have seen in recent times that democracy is being slowly strangled. Non-BJP govts, those of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in particular, are being troubled. Politics of intimidation is on in the entire country. In West Bengal, the entire lot of officers, including the DGP, were changed ahead of the Assembly elections,” he said.“Some days back there was ED raids at the places of AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Ashok Mittal, who runs a university that has over 40,000 students.
Right now, ED raid is going on at the residence of Cabinet minister Sanjeev Arora, who holds portfolios of power and local bodies. He had defeated the BJP in the Ludhiana (West) Assembly byelections. He has suddenly become stained,” he said.Mann alleged that the BJP was “preparing” for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections by deploying the ED and issuing notices to intimidate rivals. He claimed the saffron party is struggling to find even 117 candidates for the state’s constituencies.
“Only non-BJP govts are being targeted, with the ED being used against opposition leaders,” he said, adding that nothing eventually comes out of such cases.“This is not democracy, this is dictatorship. They may send ED, CBI or any agency at their disposal, but we are not the ones to get intimated,” said Mann, adding, “The BJP is saying scare them by sending ED so that they either they do not fight or join them by going through their washing machine.”Meanwhile, Punjab’s industries and power minister Sanjeev Arora said that as a responsible citizen he will fully cooperate with the agencies after the ED on Friday conducted searches at the premises of the minister. “Good Morning! An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies and I am confident that the truth will prevail,” Sanjeev Arora said in a post on X.On April 15, the ED had conducted FEMA searches at the premises of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal. Mittal was recently appointed the deputy leader of the AAP in the Rajya Sabha, replacing MP Raghav Chadha.
