IANS | 23 Mar, 2024
Accusing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of defrauding the people of Punjab
with a 'conspiracy' called the 'Punjab excise policy', state BJP chief
Sunil Jakhar on Friday demanded an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe to
unearth the role of the 'henchmen' appointed by the now-arrested Delhi
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, including AAP Rajya Sabha member Raghav
Chadha.
"The Punjab excise policy is a bigger malaise than Delhi's
now-defunct excise policy," Jakhar said, as he lashed out at Punjab
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for allowing the "open loot and plunder of
the state being run on proxy by Kejriwal's henchmen who have been given
plum houses in posh sectors out of the Chief Minister’s quota".
Jakhar
said the BJP would lead a delegation to the Election Commission on
Saturday to seek an ED probe into the excise policy to save Punjab from
further harm at the hands of AAP.
"Mann and Chadha knew about
Kejriwal’s corrupt ways. That's why Chadha ran away from India on a
seemingly weak pretext of eye treatment, which is otherwise available in
India,” Jakhar said.
“Both of them were acting at the behest of
Kejriwal, who had schemed in such a way that he could appropriate others
for fulfilling his corrupt designs and still try to remain scot-free,
but not for long as the law always catches up,” Jakhar added.
“Bhagwant
Mann, who must have known about the impending fate of his supremo, was
celebrating yesterday by singing songs. The CM's celebration and Raghav
Chadha fleeing abroad are ominous signs of a rudderless boat, which the
CM was alluding to in his songs yesterday,” Jakhar quipped.
Cautioning
the state administration that direct repercussions of Kejriwal's arrest
will be seen in Punjab, Jakhar told the media that he would urge the ED
to "protect those honest officers who have been coerced to sign on the
dotted lines on a flawed policy document, which was part of a failed and
so-called Delhi governance model touted by the AAP as a shield for
their its ways".