Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema alleged that the BJP is using central agencies like the CBI and ED to target the AAP government. He called recent CBI searches 'politically motivated' and a conspiracy to weaken AAP's movement.
Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party was using central investigative agencies to target the Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab, calling the latest CBI searches “politically motivated”.
BJP trying to weaken AAP's movement: Cheema
Speaking on the CBI action, Cheema alleged that the BJP was attempting to weaken the AAP’s campaign over voting rights and electoral issues. “The Bharatiya Janata Party is currently stealing the right to vote, a right granted under the Constitution by Babasaheb Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar across the country. The Aam Aadmi Party is waging a major movement against this, and the BJP is hatching conspiracies to break that movement,” Cheema said.
He further claimed that the AAP government in Punjab had fulfilled the five guarantees promised to the people within four years and alleged that the BJP was targeting the state government because of this. “Punjab CM Bhagwant Singh Mann and the Aam Aadmi Party fulfilled the five guarantees we had promised within just four years. Rattled by this, the BJP has unleashed its ED and CBI on Punjab,” he said.
CBI raids Punjab CM's OSD
Earlier in the day, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted raids at House Number 50 in Chandigarh's Sector 2 area, in connection with Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann's OSD Rajbir Ghuman case. This came after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the CBI to probe corruption allegations involving Mann’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD) Rajbir Singh Ghuman.
Corruption allegations against OSD
Meanwhile, the CBI has registered an FIR to investigate allegations of corruption against the OSD to the Punjab Chief Minister and his associates, the agency said in a release. The allegations include influencing and manipulating postings of officers, including IAS and IPS officers, departmental proceedings, policy formulation, administrative approvals, tender conditions, licensing matters, land-use conversion, property disputes, and revenue and land-related issues in lieu of pecuniary benefits, according to the CBI.
The agency also alleged that the accused public servants purportedly accessed and provided drafts of government orders and policies to private persons before their issuance.
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