Chandigarh, May 8
Punjab Cabinet Minister Aman Arora on Thursday called out the BJP-led Central Government and the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for running a politically motivated campaign to malign him through fabricated narratives, selective leaks and misuse of central agencies. Addressing a press conference, AAP Punjab State President and Cabinet Minister Aman Arora rejected all allegations and termed the entire episode a reflection of the BJP’s “politics of intimidation, arm-twisting and character assassination” aimed at targeting political opponents ahead of elections.
Arora stated that he was completely unaware of the ED raids conducted on Wednesday morning as he had been attending to his mother, who has been admitted in the ICU for the last two weeks, before participating in departmental meetings. “I only came to know about the raids after receiving calls and videos from party colleagues and media persons during the meeting,” he added. The AAP Punjab State President stated, “I was shocked after seeing visuals of bags of currency notes being shown on television. Till around 3:30 PM, I remained occupied in the departmental meeting and had absolutely no information connecting me to the matter in any manner.”
Arora pointed out that the ED had initially issued an official statement in which neither his name nor even Gaurav Dhir’s name appeared. He said only the name “Gaurav Constructions” was mentioned in the original statement. “Within half an hour, another statement carrying exactly the same content was issued, with the only difference being the addition of Aman Arora’s name in the last paragraph. This clearly proves that my name was inserted later only to politically target and defame me,” Arora said while demanding a thorough investigation into how and why this manipulation took place.
Clarifying his position further, Arora stated that he had never even heard the names of several individuals being linked in the case, including Suresh Kumar Bajaj, Ajay Sehgal, Nitin Goyal and Pritpal Singh Dhindsa, before Wednesday. “I heard these names for the first time in my life yesterday,” Arora said.
Reiterating his clean public image, Arora said he has spent over 31 years in public life without any allegation of corruption or misuse of office. “If anyone can prove that Aman Arora has ever demanded even one rupee from anyone since entering politics in 1991, I will quit politics immediately,” Arora declared.
Launching a direct attack on the BJP, Aman Arora said the party has made misuse of agencies like the ED and CBI a standard political strategy in states where elections are approaching. “The BJP is trying to break people through pressure tactics, fear and false propaganda because it cannot defeat opponents politically,” Arora asserted. He further accused the ED of adopting a selective and biased approach by deliberately omitting politically inconvenient details from its statements. Arora pointed out that one of the individuals named in the case, Suresh Kumar Bajaj, had donated ₹2.5 lakh to the BJP during 2023-24, but this fact was conveniently left out.
“The ED knows Aman Arora and Gaurav Dhir are friends, but it does not mention that one of the accused financially contributed to the BJP. This exposes the real political agenda behind the entire exercise,” Arora said.
Throwing an open challenge to the ED, Arora said he was ready to cooperate fully with any inquiry. “If the ED has any doubt, call me. I will come myself. Conduct a forensic examination of my phone. If the contact numbers of any of the individuals named in their list are even found saved in my phone, I will consider myself guilty,” Arora said.
“I have never done anything in life that I cannot say openly with my head held high. If the ED has any questions, summon me and I will fully cooperate. But this fabricated propaganda campaign to malign me politically will not succeed,” Arora added.
