And the impact is being felt in Punjab too.
The bail for former Delhi minister Satyendar Jain of the AAP in the Delhi Jal Board corruption case has come as a shot in the arm for the party, which now has a fresh courtroom peg for its charge that the BJP has turned the Centre into an “ED party”, a reference to alleged misuse of central probe agencies such as the ED, or Enforcement Directorate.
“The message from BJP is loud and clear: either join BJP or face harassment through raids and investigations. The moment they (defectors from the AAP) joined the BJP, the raids stopped. They were then provided security cover by the Centre.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the real motive behind the ED raids and investigations was to browbeat the leaders into defecting. Punjab is the land of gurus, saints and martyrs; this land did not bow before Aurangzeb’s atrocities, and it will not bend before Modi either,” Bhagwant Mann said.
Arvind Kejriwal’s party presents Jain’s release as proof of political vendetta, while the BJP points to the ongoing investigations in Punjab as proof of corruption.
“What did he achieve from this? AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal asked of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Satyendar Jain’s case. “Twenty-four hours a day, you just keep thinking about sending people to jail. You have no interest whatsoever in running the country. AAP leaders want to capitalise on Jain’s arrest in Punjab in particular by telling the people that the BJP was interfering with its government and the election campaigning. “There was no scam that was being investigated for many years. This is clearly a mischief to disturb a person who had to work in Punjab. We are happy that Satyendar Jain has been granted bail. We want to tell the union government that days of your rowdiness are numbered. You have seen how the party leaders and their families are being harassed; who will compensate them? Shiromani Akali Dal’s Bikram Singh Majithia points to a longer version of the same alleged pattern.
Because satyender Jain is the co-in-charge of Punjab (AAP), “This was a political vendetta arrest. An FIR registered under the anti-drugs law in 2021 sent Majithia, a former minister, to the Patiala jail in February 2022 after his anticipatory bail efforts failed. In August 2022, the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him regular bail, stating there were reasonable grounds to believe he was not guilty of those charges. The government petition against that bail was dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2025.
Nor do you even know how to run it,” Kejriwal has said. AAP’s Delhi unit chief leader Saurabh Bharadwaj said Jain’s arrest was “a mischief” because the BJP did not want him working in Punjab. The court said that the case did not even deserve a chargesheet. He will resume his work,” Saurabh Bharadwaj said. AAP spokesperson Priyanka Kakkar also said the arrest was a “conspiracy against Punjab”. If BJP wants to fight us, they should compete with our hospitals and schools,” Priyanka Kakkar said.
In case you really want to investigate, you should arrest all Akali-BJP, Congress and AAP leaders, including CM Bhagwant Mann and me.”
Arora, reacting to the allegations, said, “Six CLUs in the matter predated AAP.
