Chandigarh, Aug 3 (NationPress) Punjab BJP President Sunil Jakhar on Sunday condemned the Vigilance action against party leader Ranjit Singh Gill, characterizing it as an overt act of political vengeance.

He urged Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to probe corruption allegations involving his minister, Sanjiv Arora, for supposed misconduct as a land developer. Jakhar accused CM Mann of relinquishing Punjab's governance to leaders in Delhi, cautioning that when power shifts, it's the Chief Minister and his ministers who bear the brunt of public fund mismanagement, while 'contractors' evade accountability.

Jakhar asserted that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is failing to confront gangsters and instead is functioning as a political syndicate. He termed the action against Gill as a breach of democratic principles, suggesting the government is coercing dissenters to prevent them from aligning with opposing parties or straying from its agenda. He stressed that every citizen possesses the right to select their political course in a democracy.

Jakhar raised concerns about whether the raid on Gill’s residence and office was influenced by AAP’s financial motives or linked to collusion with another builder in land pooling agreements. He reminded the Chief Minister of the 2016 SEBI ruling that found Minister Sanjiv Arora guilty of deceiving shareholders, along with the 2023 Enforcement Directorate raid on Arora, which AAP previously labeled as a vendetta. Nevertheless, Jakhar pointed out that the government is now targeting Gill similarly.

The BJP leader further emphasized that the late Ludhiana MLA Gurpreet Gogi had expressed concerns regarding Arora's company converting industrial land into residential colonies. He argued that this was clear evidence of wrongdoing, as even AAP’s own legislators questioned Arora's actions. Jakhar suggested that AAP should rebrand itself as “Aam Aadmi Builder and Developer Private Ltd” instead of a political organization.

He accused the government of confiscating farmers’ fertile land and now attempting to justify Arora’s misconduct through a June 26 Cabinet decision on an industrial plot conversion policy. The land in Mundian Kalan in Ludhiana was earmarked for industrial use but was instead repurposed for residential development, a move he denounced as entirely illegal, as land designated for one purpose cannot be repurposed for another.