Hours after former Shiromani Akali Dal leader and Gillco Valley realtor Ranjit Singh Gill joined the BJP, Punjab Vigilance Bureau officials raided his residence in Chandigarh and office in Kharar on Saturday morning. While a Vigilance Bureau team was deployed at his residence in Sector 2, Chandigarh, police personnel were present in large numbers outside his Gillco Valley office in Kharar.
Though Gill could not be contacted for comments, his close associates confirmed the raids, alleging that the action is motivated by “political vendetta”.
BJP leaders claimed that Gill was pressured to join the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). “That is why he joined the BJP abruptly. And by morning, the Vigilance Bureau was at his door,” said a BJP leader who was present during Gill’s induction into the party in Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini’s presence in Chandigarh. He said Gill is a strong contender for the BJP ticket from the Kharar Assembly seat in the next elections.
Gill had contested the 2017 and 2022 Assembly elections from Kharar. He had lost to the AAP’s Anmol Gagan Maan by a big margin in 2022. A confidant of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Gill was said to have been upset over the recent appointments of party office-bearers in his area, which led to his resignation from the party on July 12.
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