Punjab Vigilance Bureau raids Ranjit Singh Gill's residence a day after he joins BJP

Chandigarh: The Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB) on Saturday raided the premises of former Akali leader and prominent realtor Ranjit Singh Gill here, a day after he joined the BJP.

The BJP strongly condemned the Vigilance Bureau's action against Gill, accusing the AAP government of indulging in "political vendetta."

Gill was inducted into the BJP by Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini at his official residence here on Friday night.

VB sleuths raided Gill's residence in Chandigarh and his office in Mohali's Kharar. However, there is no official word on the raid operation yet.

A police force was deployed outside the residence of Gill in Chandigarh and Kharar.

Punjab BJP leader Subhash Sharma lashed out at the AAP government for conducting raids at the premises of Gill after he joined the saffron party.

He claimed that the AAP had been pressuring Gill to join the party after he quit the Shiromani Akali Dal.

"When he decided to go with the BJP for the progress of Punjab, the VB teams reached his residence to conduct raids in the morning," said Sharma.

He said the BJP strongly condemned the AAP's policy of "political vendetta" and further charged the Bhagwant Mann government of "misusing" the VB against political rivals.

"People of Punjab never accepted the politics of political vendetta. People will give the AAP a befitting reply to the arm-twisting politics," said Sharma.

Gill had recently resigned from the primary membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). He was once considered a close confidant of SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal.

He had earlier claimed that loyal party workers in the SAD were allegedly being sidelined, while outsiders were gaining prominence in the constituency.

Gill had unsuccessfully contested the Kharar Assembly seat in the 2017 and 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. He lost to AAP's Anmol Gagan Mann in the 2022 assembly polls.

After joining the BJP on Friday, Gill expressed confidence in the party's policies and programmes under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gill is the founder of the real estate firm Gillco Group. He had set up various real estate projects in Mohali.