A new political row has erupted in poll-bound Gujarat, with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday, 12 September, claiming to have proof of an "illegal" police raid that was allegedly conducted at the party's office on Sunday in Ahmedabad.
The party has claimed that they "are ready to present the evidence if the Gujarat chief minister agrees to hold a press conference and answer all the questions pertaining to the raid."
The party had claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is "extremely rattled" by the "immense support" the AAP is getting in the run-up to the Gujarat Assembly polls.
AAP's assertion of proof came after the Gujarat Police denied that any raid was conducted at the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's office on Sunday evening.
Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia spoke on the same and shared the video in a tweet.
Meanwhile, AAP chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj said at a press conference at the party headquarters in Delhi:
"Police conducted an illegal raid yesterday at the party's office in Ahmedabad. They forcibly entered the office and carried out searches for two hours without any warrant or court order."
The police team searched all the computers, went through all the documents kept at the party office, and interrogated the people there, Bharadwaj claimed.
He added, "We have evidence to prove the illegal raid and searches carried out by police at our party office in Ahmedabad. Our people know the police officers who went there."
'Found Nothing, AAP Workers are Hardcore Honest': Kejriwal
Leaders of the AAP Gujarat unit said on Twitter that the raid was carried out soon after Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal arrived in Ahmedabad.
A police official refuted the claim and said, when contacted, the AAP office-bearers did not give any details about who conducted the raid and what exactly happened.
Earlier, Kejriwal had said that the Gujarat police found nothing at the party office as the leaders and workers of the AAP are "hardcore honest."
"The BJP is extremely rattled by the immense support that the AAP is getting from the people of Gujarat. There is a storm in favour of the AAP in Gujarat," Kejriwal had said in a tweet in Hindi.
"After Delhi, now they have started getting raids conducted in Gujarat too. Be it Delhi or Gujarat, they are not going to find anything," the Delhi CM added.
However, Navrangpura police station Inspector PK Patel denied the claims saying that no such raid was conducted.
"After learning about (Isudan) Gadhvi's tweet about the raid, I personally visited the party office on Sunday night and sought details. But the party leaders present there, including one Yagnesh, did not give any details as to who came and what exactly happened as claimed by Gadhvi," Patel said on Monday.
The Gujarat Assembly polls are slated to be held later this year.
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