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‘Rangla to Kangla’: Raghav Chadha questions AAP's ‘Punjabiyat’ after ED arrests Sanjeev Arora in GST fraud case
Raghav Chadha made sharp attack on the AAP government in Punjab and accused it of looting the treasury.
After the Enforcement Directorate arrested Punjab industries and power minister Sanjeev Arora from Chandigarh, Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha trained guns at the Aam Aadmi Party and said it had looted Punjab and taken it from prosperity to pauperism.
“By showing the dream of making Punjab 'Rangla' (prosperous), Aam Aadmi Party has looted the treasury of Punjab and made it ‘Kangla’ (pauper).,” the Chadha said. Chadha, who was with AAP until recently, joined the BJP a few weeks ago along with six other MPs.
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He has bashed the AAP for its “toxic work environment”.
What Raghav Chadha said on Sanjeev Arora's arrest
“The reports that ₹21 lakh cash was thrown in a bag from a balcony during the ED raid, and around ₹100 crore of funds was round-tripped, show that this was a huge betrayal of the mandate they received in Punjab,” Chadha told ANI. He said the AAP has betrayed Punjab, Punjabi, and Punjabiyat.
“The 7 MPs who cut ties with AAP said, while leaving, that the party is completely trapped in the hands of corrupt and compromised people. Whenever we tried to raise such issues within the party, we were silenced. But the things coming forward after raids by agencies are shocking... The agencies will take action, but the real action will be taken by the people of Punjab in the next Assembly elections,” Chadha said.
Arora's arrest on Saturday came after hours of searches across over a dozen locations in Punjab, Chandigarh and Haryana, targeting Sanjeev Arora's residence, the corporate offices of Hampton Sky Realty Limited, and the premises of several associates. It is the third ED raid on Sanjeev Arora in under a year — the second in a single month.
The agency has been investigating an alleged ₹157-crore GST and export fraud involving fake invoices generated by non-existent firms in Delhi-NCR to claim input tax credit and export refunds on purported mobile phone purchases. Investigators have alleged that ₹102.5 crore was routed through two UAE-based shell entities.
Prior to Saturday's arrest, the ED had provisionally attached bank accounts, demat holdings and immovable assets linked to Sanjeev Arora and Hampton Sky Realty under foreign exchange- and tax-related laws.
Raghav Chadha's exit from AAP
In April, Chadha along with six MPs exited the AAP and joined the BJP. “I gave 15 years of my prime youth to this party. I worked very hard for this party with my blood, sweat and tears. But today, this party is not the old party. This party has a toxic work environment. You are stopped from working,” Chadha said after his exit from the party.
The other leaders who defected from the AAP were Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, Harbhajan Singh, Rajinder Gupta, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, and Swati Maliwal.
Chadha’s switch ahead of next year’s Punjab elections raised a political row over AAP’s future, after the party, once dominant in Delhi for 11 years, was routed by the BJP in 2025.
