The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), at the helm of the Delhi government, has received a notice from the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the party said on Monday, 13 September.
"In a first, AAP receives a love letter from Modi Government's favorite agency - the Enforcement Directorate," AAP spokesperson Raghav Chadha stated on Twitter, terming it the "political witch hunt" by a "rattled BJP".
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also spoke about the notice from the ED and said in a tweet: "As we grow in Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand, Gujarat – we get an ED notice! The people of India want honest politics – these tactics of the BJP will never succeed, they will make us stronger."
The central agency has summoned AAP's National Secretary Pankaj Gupta, on 22 September, in connection with a money laundering case involving former AAP (and now Congress) leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira, NDTV reported.
Taking cognisance of two FIRs relating to alleged drug trafficking and fake passports, the central agency has initiated a probe against Khaira, who quit the AAP in 2019 and joined the Congress in June this year.
Chadha's words echo those of Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut in August, who had noted that an ED notice was not a "death warrant" but a "love letter" for political workers, as per a report by news agency PTI.
AAP is expected to contest in the upcoming assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
AAP, following Vijay Rupani's resignation from the chief ministerial post of Gujarat, had asserted that it was the party's increasing popularity in Gujarat that had impelled the BJP to shake up its ranks.
Party leader Sushil K Kashyap, following the notice by the financial investigation agency, alleged on Monday that there was a "political vendetta" against AAP. He stated that the BJP was scared of the party's growth in Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, and Uttar Pradesh.
In the past, opposition leaders Sharad Pawar and Mehbooba Mufti have also alleged that the ED was being used as a coercive tool by the BJP.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)