Chandigarh, April 4 – Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema, State AAP President Aman Arora, and legislator Kuldeep Dhaliwal, launched a sharp attack on Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha on Saturday over his failure to raise key issues of the state in Parliament.
They highlighted that critical matters, including the outstanding Rural Development Fund of Rs 8,500 crore, GST losses of Rs 60,000 crore, and flood relief of Rs 1,600 crore, were not addressed despite repeated communication.
Calling the silence a betrayal of the people and mandate of Punjab, the AAP leaders said in a statement that the failure to address the concerns of farmers and the plight of flood victims reflected a complete disconnect from ground realities.
Speaking on parliamentary representation, Minister Cheema said, "Raghav Chadha was elected to the Rajya Sabha by the MLAs of Punjab with the expectation that he would strongly represent the state's concerns at the national level. However, he completely avoided raising even a single sensitive issue related to Punjab."
Listing out key financial issues, the Finance Minister noted, "He (Raghav Chadha) failed to raise several critical matters, including the pending Rural Development Fund (RDF) amount of nearly Rs 8,500 crore, massive GST-related losses to Punjab amounting to around Rs 60,000 crore since its implementation, and additional financial setbacks of Rs 5,000-6,000 crore due to changes in GST compensation. Funds under the National Health Mission were also not adequately addressed."
Referring to flood relief, Minister Cheema added, "Despite Prime Minister Modi's announcement of Rs 1,600 crore in relief for Punjab after the devastating floods, not even a fraction of that amount has reached Punjab's treasury. All these issues were repeatedly conveyed to Raghav Chadha, yet he did not raise even one of them in Parliament."
Expressing disappointment, the Minister said, "We (AAP) sent him (Raghav Chadha) to the Rajya Sabha with hope, but he did not speak even once before the Prime Minister on these issues. This clearly shows a compromise. Aam Aadmi Party is a party that gives opportunities to common people, but remaining silent on such crucial issues is a betrayal of Punjab and its people."
Punjab AAP President Arora said that Chadha must remember the role played by Arvind Kejriwal and the party in elevating him politically.
"Instead of focusing on Punjab's pressing issues such as pending RDF funds and flood relief, he (Raghav Chadha) chose to raise unrelated matters, which has been noticed by the entire country."