‘Ruling AAP’s rally’ or ‘govt’s official event’? Political storm after Punjab DGP, chief secy share stage with Kejriwal

Sinha added that drugs started like a bimaari (disease) in Punjab. “We have started a war. Inform us and immediate action will be taken. Political will is the most important thing for any state to take strict action and today with all our leadership on stage, it shows that it is 100 percent.”

Hours after the gathering, BJP state president Sunil Jakhar posted on X: “Watching the Chief Secretary and DGP at AAP’s rally today, one wonders if India’s ‘steel frame’ bureaucrats are now bending to political whims. Isn’t this a flagrant breach of All India Service Rules?. The AAP government is politicising the bureaucracy. In a democracy, the bureaucracy is expected to function neutrally but it seems bureaucrats have now surrendered to the whims of AAP.”

“Watching the Chief Secretary & DGP at Aam Aadmi Party’s rally today, one wonders if India’s ‘steel frame’ bureaucrats are now bending to political whims . Isn’t this a flagrant breach of All India Service Rules ?@AmitShah@BhagwantMann

— Sunil Jakhar (@sunilkjakhar) February 16, 2026

Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sarin also questioned in what capacity Arvind Kejriwal addressed the gathering if it was “Punjab government’s official event.” “First of all, I want to ask, if the event was of the Punjab government, what is the role of Arvind Kejriwal in the Punjab government? Kejriwal needs to clarify this to the people of Punjab today. Is he the de-facto CM of Punjab? He can be present in AAP’s party’s programmes but what is he doing in government’s official events? In what capacity Kejriwal is participating in the Moga event, he needs to answer this,” said Sarin.

The SAD has urged Punjab Governor Gulab Chand Kataria as well as the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take note of the manner in which government funds were used to hold AAP’s rally.

SAD spokesperson and former minister Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said that the Punjab Governor and Election Commission of India (ECI) should “take note of the misuse of government funds” in the Moga rally and that the “entire amount should be recovered from AAP.”

“The entire cost of the rally was borne by the government and public buses were used to ferry people to rally even as Kejriwal has no position in the Punjab government. The manner in which the DGP and chief secretary were forced to address a political rally is highly condemnable. The state’s bureaucracy was politicised which is not good for democracy. Tomorrow the AAP government will force district level officers to address political rallies and become a part of AAP,” said Cheema in a statement.

Calling it a “dangerous new low for Punjab”, senior Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa said, “When the lines between government and political party begin to blur, probity in public life is the first casualty. The Mann government, acting at the behest of Kejriwal, is turning Punjab’s governance into a political extension of the AAP leadership. Civil servants are expected to function impartially and uphold constitutional values. Their visible association with a political event undermines public trust. Mann must explain why Punjab’s administrative machinery is being used to serve political ambitions of Kejriwal and AAP.”

Gurdaspur MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa said when a serving DGP and Chief Secretary openly align themselves with a political party like the AAP, it is not merely inappropriate, it is a grave violation of service conduct rules and constitutional propriety.

In a post on X, Randhawa said civil servants are bound by the principle of political neutrality. “Public endorsement of any party erodes institutional credibility, compromises public trust, and strikes at the very foundation of an impartial administrative framework. This is not just misconduct, it is a deeply troubling sign of institutional decay. Truly, a sorry state of affairs,” he said.

In his post on X on Monday, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, before leaving for Moga, wrote that the event was a “massive AAP rally.”
Mann posted: “Aam Aadmi Party is organizing a massive rally today at Killi Chahlan near Moga. See you there, friends..”

ਮੋਗਾ ਨੇੜੇ ਪਿੰਡ ਕਿੱਲੀ ਚਹਿਲਾਂ ਵਿਖੇ ਅੱਜ ਆਮ ਆਦਮੀ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਵੱਲੋਂ ਵਿਸ਼ਾਲ ਰੈਲੀ ਹੋ ਰਹੀ ਹੈ…ਮਿਲਦੇ ਹਾਂ ਦੋਸਤੋ

— Bhagwant Mann (@BhagwantMann) February 16, 2026