Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Thursday lashed out at the BJP-led Central government after CBI raids on his Officer-on-Special Duty (OSD) and others in a corruption case, saying that this indicates the saffron party’s election campaign has begun in the poll-bound state.
“The BJP has started its election campaign. This is their way,” he replied. Mann alleged that whenever an election is due in a non-BJP-ruled state, the Central agencies start raid operations months ahead, citing examples of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi, Karnataka and Haryana where he alleged that central agency action took place ahead of elections.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday registered a corruption case involving OSD to Mann and five others on the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directions, and searched several locations, including the chief minister’s “camp office”, officials said. On the non-appearance of his OSD Rajbir Singh Ghumman despite a CBI summons, the Chief Minister said the government was not running away from the investigation.
Mann also referred to West Bengal, claiming that ED raids involving people close to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were conducted around two months before the elections.
