Chandigarh। : The political confrontation between the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab and the BJP-led Centre intensified on Thursday after the ruling party announced a protest against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) search operation at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) headquarters in Mohali.
The AAP has announced that its leaders and workers will gather outside the GMADA office in Phase 8, Mohali, and protest against the ongoing ED action. The party has questioned the timing and manner of the investigation and alleged that central agencies are being used to put pressure on Punjab government officials ahead of the Assembly elections.
The ED search at GMADA began on Tuesday and continued for more than a day, with agency officials examining records and questioning senior officials. According to reports, several floors of the GMADA headquarters were sealed during the operation and records relating to land acquisition, property transactions, change of land use and dealings with private developers were examined.
The searches form part of a wider money-laundering investigation involving Delhi-based Tirupati Infraprojects Pvt Ltd and its associated companies. The ED operation has covered multiple locations in Punjab, Chandigarh, Haryana and Delhi. Investigators are examining the affairs of several companies and their promoters, directors and associates, as well as records connected with GMADA and the Punjab Housing and Urban Development Department.
According to officials cited in media reports, the investigation includes scrutiny of land acquisition, changes in land-use classifications, property transactions and alleged benefits extended to private real-estate companies. Records concerning thousands of acres in the Mohali and New Chandigarh areas are also reportedly under examination. These are matters being investigated by the agency and should not be treated as established wrongdoing unless proved through the legal process.
The ED has not publicly released a detailed account of what it has seized or what conclusions, if any, have emerged from the searches. No arrests had been reported in connection with the GMADA search at the time of the latest reports.
Against this backdrop, AAP has mounted a strong political attack on the Centre. The party has alleged that the ED action is intended to create an atmosphere of fear among Punjab government officials and disrupt the functioning of GMADA, which plays a major role in urban planning, land development and revenue generation in the Mohali region.
AAP leaders have also linked the timing of the investigation to the approaching Punjab Assembly elections. The party has alleged that the BJP-led Centre is attempting to use central investigative agencies to exert pressure on the state government and its officials because of political competition in Punjab. These are political allegations made by AAP and have not been established as findings of the investigation.
The party has particularly questioned what it describes as prolonged searches at the GMADA headquarters. AAP leaders argue that keeping senior officials occupied with an extended investigation could affect the functioning of an authority responsible for major urban-development and land-related work in the Mohali region.
The controversy has also moved into the judicial arena. The Punjab government approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court during the continuing ED operation, following which a court-appointed Warrant Officer visited the GMADA office in the early hours of Thursday to inspect the ongoing proceedings. The officer was directed to submit a report to the court.
The ED investigation has meanwhile expanded beyond the GMADA headquarters. Reports on Thursday said the agency also searched the residence of Gurpreet Singh Saini, nephew of Punjab Housing and Urban Development Minister Hardeep Singh Mundian, in Ludhiana. Another search was reported at a Chandigarh residence associated with AAP leader and former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain. The agency’s wider operation is being conducted under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
For the AAP government, the ED operation has therefore become both an administrative and political issue. The party is seeking to portray the searches as an attempt to interfere with the functioning of the Punjab government, while the investigation itself is being conducted by a central agency in connection with allegations of financial irregularities and money laundering.
The coming days are likely to bring greater clarity on the evidence collected during the searches, the records examined by investigators and whether the ED takes any further legal action. Until the agency or a competent court establishes otherwise, allegations under investigation remain allegations and should not be treated as proof of criminal wrongdoing.
The immediate political contest, however, is already clear: AAP has decided to turn the GMADA ED operation into a wider debate over the use of central investigative agencies in Punjab, particularly with the Assembly elections approaching, while the ED investigation continues on its own legal track.