Mann slams Centre after ED's fresh searches against Punjab Minister Sanjeev Arora

The end of this unethical alliance of ED-BJP will begin from Punjab itself. The ED on Saturday conducted fresh searches against Arora and some others allegedly linked to him as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said. After the raid on April 17, Mann had then slammed the Centre, saying democracy was being murdered by harassing only non-BJP governments.

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann slammed the Centre after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday conducted fresh searches against Punjab Industries Minister Sanjeev Arora. ''Today, once again, the BJP's ED has come to Sanjeev Arora's house. In one year, this is the third time the BJP's ED has come to his house. And in the last one month, the second time. Yet, they haven't found anything,'' Mann said in a post on X in Hindi and Punjabi. ''I want to tell Modi ji that Punjab is the land of the Gurus, which even Aurangzeb could not subdue,'' said Mann. Mann further said, ''This is the land of Bhagat Singh, who never bowed before the British, so Punjab will never bow before Modi's tactics. The end of this unethical alliance of ED-BJP will begin from Punjab itself.'' The ED on Saturday conducted fresh searches against Arora and some others allegedly linked to him as part of a money laundering investigation, officials said. Arora's official residence in Chandigarh and a real estate company in Gurugram (Haryana) were among the five premises that were raided, they said. The action was taken under the criminal sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the officials said. Slamming the BJP-led Centre, Punjab Finance Minister Hapral Singh Cheema alleged it is the BJP's design to send central agencies like ED and CBI in the states ruled by the Opposition a few months before the elections to target political opponents. Cheema alleged that they also use tactics like ''vote deletion'' to ''loot the elections''. ''But the AAP government believes in the Constitution given by Dr B R Ambedkar. We will save the Constitution and the country's democracy,'' he said. Referring to the country's freedom movement, Cheema said the people of Punjab gave maximum sacrifices to see democracy in this country. ''No matter how many attacks the BJP may carry out, we will repel all their attacks,'' Cheema said. In April, the ED had raided Arora and entities linked to him under the civil provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). Arora, the Minister for Industries & Commerce, Investment Promotion, Power and Local Government, had then said he would fully cooperate with the probe agencies and that he was confident that the truth would prevail. After the raid on April 17, Mann had then slammed the Centre, saying democracy was being ''murdered by harassing only non-BJP governments''.