Junagadh police on Wednesday booked an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate for the upcoming April 26 local body polls, upon recovering illicit liquor worth Rs 96,000 after raiding his godown. This triggered a sharp political row with the party alleging an orchestrated crackdown on its workers across Gujarat, police said.
As per police, acting on intelligence, officers from Shil police station raided the premises of Nilesh Hardas Malam, AAP's candidate for the Osa seat of Junagadh taluka panchayat, and seized 96 bottles of 750 ml Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).
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Malam was subsequently booked under the Gujarat Prohibition Act on Wednesday. Though it is currently not clear whether the seizure would affect Malam's candidature, as Junagadh district collector Anil Ranavasiya did not yet comment on this.
Meanwhile, AAP Gujarat spokesperson Karan Barot acknowledged the incident, he said, "If someone was caught doing something illegal, the party's stance is that legal action should be taken against them," He added, "But it is also true that false FIRs are being filed against hundreds of AAP leaders and workers in the run-up to the elections, but when we go with a complaint, no action is taken."
Earlier on Wednesday, Barot and AAP State General Secretary Sagar Rabari held a press conference in Ahmedabad, alleging that even before the local body elections were declared, the BJP had "more than 100 AAP leaders and workers implicated in false cases."
The AAP leaders also cited the suicide of an election officer, or 'mamlatdar', in South Gujarat, saying BJP is "not only inflicting torture on the workers of political parties, candidates and technicians, but also on government employees on election duty."
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The party claimed a pattern of intimidation across the state. "Our candidate from Surat, Gautam Patel, and his family were intimidated, threatened and detained throughout the night," they alleged, adding that candidates in Rapar, Visnagar and Ahmedabad had also faced threats, physical attacks and inducements. The BJP is yet to respond to the allegations.
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