With the Enforcement Directorate (ED) mentioning Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Raghav Chadha in its second supplementary chargesheet in the Delhi liquor policy, the Opposition parties in Punjab on Tuesday sharpened their attack over the AAP.
The ED, in its latest chargesheet in the Delhi excise policy case, included a witness statement in which it was mentioned that Mr. Chadha was purportedly present in a meeting at the residence of the main accused and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
Also read | AAP used hawala, cash route to funnel liquor policy kickbacks for Goa polls: ED
However, Mr. Chadha asserted that he had not been mentioned in any of the ED chargesheets as either an accused, suspect or even a witness.
“I wonder who is going to be next”Partap Singh BajwaPunjab’s Leader of the Opposition
Laughing stock
Punjab’s Leader of the Opposition, Partap Singh Bajwa said that the AAP had become a synonym for controversy, and it was another day when a leader of the AAP was in the news for the wrong reasons.
“At first, it was Delhi’s former Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia. Now AAP’s Rajya Sabha MP Raghav has been named in the same case. I wonder who is going to be next,” quipped Mr. Bajwa.
Mr. Bajwa urged the Enforcement Directorate to continue its inquiry into Punjab’s liquor policy case to bring it to a logical end. “The ED must take serious note of the same and conduct a thorough probe on Punjab’s liquor policy for 2022-23,” he said.
“Corrupt model”
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur alleged that the AAP government in Punjab was adopting the “corrupt model” of the AAP government in Delhi.
“The AAP betrayed the people of Delhi by indulging in the liquor scam. They hurt the exchequer of Delhi & looted hundreds of crores of rupees by colluding with liquor mafias,“ he said.
“The main accused who planned the loot is in jail today. But the kingpin and his accomplices are still out. Investigating agencies will investigate and take strict action against all,” he stated in Jalandhar.
BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said that with every passing day, AAP leaders in Punjab were being exposed to calls for strict action against them.