Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday, April 17, slammed the BJP-led central government after the ED carried out raids against state minister Sanjeev Arora, saying democracy is being “murdered” and only “non-BJP governments are being harassed”.

Mann also said that the raids show that the BJP has begun its “preparations” for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections.

Shortly after the ED conducted searches at the premises of the minister and some others as part of an investigation, Arora said that as a responsible citizen he will fully cooperate with the agencies

Locations in Ludhiana and some others places are being covered by the agency officials, officials said.

“Good Morning! An action by the Enforcement Directorate took place at my premises. As a responsible citizen, I will fully cooperate with the agencies and I am confident that the truth will prevail,” Arora said in a post on X.

He was raided by the ED in 2024 too. The agency had then said in a statement that companies linked to Arora and some other entities caused “loss” to the state government and generated “huge” proceeds of crime by alleged misuse of industrial land for residential projects.

A few days back, the federal probe agency conducted FEMA searches at the premises of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Kumar Mittal and his educational institutions in Punjab and Haryana.

Mittal was recently appointed the deputy leader of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Rajya Sabha, replacing MP Raghav Chadha. Mittal is also the Chancellor of Lovely Professional University in Phagwara.

Addressing a news conference here, Mann said, a few days back, the ED conducted raids against Mittal.

“More than 40,000 students study in Mittal’s Lovely Professional University which includes students from more than 35 countries. Since he is a Rajya Sabha MP from the AAP, so suddenly he became tainted,” Mann said slamming the BJP-led Centre.

“Today, raids are going on at Sanjeev Arora’s premises. He is our Power, Local Bodies and Industries Minister. Today, he too has become tainted,” Mann said, hitting out at the BJP.

About these raids, Mann said, this means the BJP has begun preparations for 2027 Punjab polls, which is to send the ED, slap Income Tax notices, use threat because the BJP is unable to find candidates on 117 Assembly seats in Punjab to fight.

“In this scenario, the BJP is saying scare them by sending ED so that they either they do not fight or join them by going through their washing machine,” he said.

Mann then said, “democracy is being murdered. We strongly condemn it.”

“Only non-BJP governments are being harassed,” he alleged.