Chandigarh: The extravagant wedding ceremony of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rajya Sabha member Raghav Chadha and Bollywood sensation Parineeti Chopra in Udaipur on Sunday has sparked a political controversy in Punjab. The opposition, represented by the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), has raised concerns about the opulence of the event.
Both parties criticized Chadha for lavishly spending crores on the wedding while portraying himself as a “simple, poor aam aadmi” (common man). The grand Punjabi wedding was not the only point of contention; Chadha was also accused of allegedly misusing Punjab government resources for a private event and selecting Rajasthan as the wedding destination.
The wedding ceremony, which took place in Udaipur, witnessed the attendance of prominent political figures, including Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
On the following day, Raghav Chadha shared wedding pictures on his social media accounts, while Parineeti Chopra posted them on her Instagram page.
Sukhpal Singh Khaira of the Congress took to Facebook to reveal that Chadha, a chartered accountant by profession, had reported an annual income of only Rs 2.44 lakh in his 2021 income tax returns. In a video message, Khaira expressed disbelief that Chadha was paying Rs 10 lakh per night for the extravagant “Maharaja suite” in the seven-star hotel where the newlyweds were staying. Khaira commented, “Chadha and other Aam Aadmi Party leaders had loudly proclaimed that they were ordinary, humble individuals entering politics to uplift people like them. If this is the way an ‘aam aadmi’ gets married, one can only wonder what a ‘khas aadmi’ (privileged individual) would do?” He also alleged that the “Punjab government’s official machinery was being utilized for the wedding.”
COURTESY: ET TIMES
Khaira further criticized the choice of Rajasthan as the wedding destination, considering that a few days prior, Punjab had invested heavily in promoting itself as a wedding destination during a tourism summit. Khaira questioned why Chadha, a Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab, had opted for Rajasthan instead. He also shared his criticism on social media platforms.
WATCH VIDEO OF SUKHPAL KHAIRA ON BELOW LINK:
https://fb.watch/nh7reYBTow/?mibextid=CDWPTG
Sukhbir Singh Badal of SAD echoed these accusations, demanding that the AAP government led by Bhagwant Mann in Punjab clarify whether the state’s industrialists were funding the multi-crore wedding. He posted on social media, “Punjabis are disheartened by the big fat wedding of AAP MP Raghav Chadha, where crores are being spent.”
SAD MP and former Union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal shared a video of Chadha arriving at the Udaipur airport, surrounded by a large security entourage. She remarked, “The wedding of Arvind Kejriwal’s blue-eyed boy Raghav Chadha, but at his service are CM Bhagwant Mann’s hundreds of security personnel, bulletproof land cruisers, etc.! No wonder Punjab Governor is rightfully asking where Punjab’s Rs. 50,000 crores worth of loans taken in the last 18 months has been spent by AAP Punjab Government.”
Khaira also shared an old video of former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, where Sisodia claimed that no politician would receive unnecessary security when AAP came to power. Khaira accused AAP of being the “biggest hypocrites” in Indian politics.
Akali leader Parambans Singh Romana tweeted an interview with Chadha from before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, in which Chadha had portrayed himself as the poorest candidate in Delhi, stating that he had no car, house, or land anywhere.
