AAP's bid to ‘settle score’ in Punjab? Inside big raid after Rajinder Gupta’s BJP switch

THe Aam Aadmi company (AAP) is veneer sharp-worded accusations of political blood feud after a Punjab Pollution verify Board (PPCB) team stormed a unit of Trident Group – owned by Rajya Sabha defector Rajinder Gupta – barely a week after his switch to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).As reported by HT earlier, a PPCB team of at least 18 officials arrived in six vehicles around 2 pm at the Trident Group’s textile unit in Dhaula, Punjab on Thursday and conducted an inspection that lasted several hours, people familiar with the raid said.Congress claims hypocrisy, BJP cries vendettaThe BJP was quick to link the timing of the raid to Gupta’s recent political switch. Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma alleged, “PPCB raid on Trident reeks of political vendetta.""The only fault of Gupta is that he dared to join the BJP for the betterment of Punjab, which has made him a target of the state government,” he said, accusing AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Mann of trying to “settle political scores”.However, Congress smelled hypocrisy, questioning the AAP government, Sukhpal Singh Khaira wrote on X: “Why do Kejriwal and Mann criticise the BJP for misusing the ED, CBI and other agencies? This is exactly what the AAP is doing to browbeat its opponents.”AAP, meanwhile, maintained the allegations were baseless and called the search operation a routine exercise.Party spokesperson Neel Garg said the inspection was routine. He added that “whenever there is a complaint, it’s the board’s duty to carry out checking,” and stressed that neither the party nor the state government had any role.Pushing back at the Opposition, he asked, “Can they cite even one instance where they filed a complaint against this company and no action was taken?”Past accusations against TridentEven as the political allegations fly, the Trident unit has previously faced scrutiny over environmental concerns.In 2022, farmers associated with the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) staged protests across Barnala, Moga, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala, alleging pollution from the factory and its impact on crops.They had claimed that untreated or poorly treated wastewater discharged by the plant contaminated soil and affected agricultural output—concerns that now add context to the latest inspection.What the inspection foundOfficials said the exercise was part of environmental compliance checks. “The team collected samples of discharged effluent, groundwater, and other relevant materials, to ensure strict compliance with environmental safety standards,” a PPCB official said, adding that “the team left at 7.30 pm.”While PPCB chairperson Reenu Gupta did not respond to queries, Barnala executive engineer Surinderjit Singh said he was not aware of the raid.On the ground, company representatives confirmed the visit but stayed guarded. Rupinder Gupta, who manages Trident outlets in Sanghera and Dhaula, said a PPCB team had inspected the premises, but he too declined to elaborate.A high-profile defectionThe raid comes against the backdrop of a major political setback for AAP.On April 24, seven of its Rajya Sabha MPs – two-thirds of its strength in the Upper House – defected to the BJP. The group included Gupta along with Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney and Swati Maliwal.Gupta, a Padma Shri awardee and founder of the Trident Group, had taken oath as a Rajya Sabha MP in November last year. Widely seen as one of Punjab’s most influential businessmen, he has an estimated net worth of over ₹10,600 crore.