Punjab Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief and cabinet minister Aman Arora said on Monday that while he humbly accepts the Punjab and Haryana high court’s order directing a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into allegations forwarded by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the state has little hope of receiving impartial justice from central agencies.
The high court directed the CBI to examine communications sent by the ED regarding alleged administrative irregularities and take necessary action within two months.
Addressing a press conference in Sangrur, Arora said, “Though the decision regarding shifting of cases to CBI is a judicial matter and we humbly accept the decision, there is no hope of justice from agencies like the CBI or ED.”
Referring to recent suicides and violent incidents, Arora assured the public that the state government will neither engage in nor tolerate illegal acts.
On the ongoing anti-drug drive, he said eradicating substance abuse requires local leadership to take a strong stand. “The problem cannot be rooted out without their active participation,” he said.
Arora added that political opponents fabricating false cases for political gain are welcome to engage in such politics, accusing opposition leaders of defaming the government without verifying facts.
Addressing the recent shooting incident targeting social media influencer Madhsudan ‘Mad’ Sandhu in Amritsar, the AAP leader termed the attack unfortunate and promised that the Punjab Police would take strict action against the perpetrators.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing the recent shooting incident targeting social media influencer Madhsudan ‘Mad’ Sandhu in Amritsar, the AAP leader termed the attack unfortunate and promised that the Punjab Police would take strict action against the perpetrators.
{{/usCountry}}On internal friction arising from public concerns raised by AAP’s Maur MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana regarding governance and local school infrastructure, Arora said that the lawmaker ought to have raised his issues within party forums first. He said chief minister Bhagwant Mann and education minister Harjot Singh Bains would investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
Turning to the ongoing farmer agitations over crop protection and price support, Arora reiterated that the Punjab government remains open to continuous dialogue to address their demands.
Taking a swipe at the Congress over reported internal dissatisfaction regarding leadership appointments, Arora suggested that the party mismanaged its structural decisions: “The Congress would have fared better had former Sangrur MLA Vijay Inder Singla been named state president. With the AAP state chief from Sangrur and key BJP figures like Kewal Singh Dhillon based in Barnala, strong, aligned leadership across the Malwa belt is essential. The Congress leadership’s decision to overlook Singla amounts to a betrayal and injustice toward Malwa.”
Leader of Opposition in Punjab assembly Partap Singh Bajwa welcomed the court’s intervention and demanded an impartial, time-bound probe to hold powerful officials accountable.
Taking to X, he wrote that the Union home ministry must ensure that no person connected with this case was allowed to leave the country until the independent CBI investigation was completed.
“LOCs must be issued against those whose departure could undermine the investigation. The integrity of the probe must be protected, and no one should be allowed to evade the law or flee accountability,” he said.
AAP govt’s ‘reality’ exposed: Dhillon
Welcoming the high court decision, Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party chief Kewal Singh Dhillon said it had “exposed the reality” of a government that claimed to have zero tolerance for corruption.
Addressing a press conference, Dhillon demanded chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s resignation, claiming that the government had lost the moral right to remain in power.
Expressing hope that the CBI will conduct a fair and transparent investigation, Dhillon questioned that if the government considered itself truly honest, why did it run away from an investigation despite repeated letters from the ED, and why was the chief minister afraid of an investigation into his own office?