With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government locked in a confrontation with its nearly 7.50 lakh employees and pensioners over dearness allowance (DA) dues, the party’s state president, Aman Arora, has sought to turn the politically sensitive issue into a debate over the state’s financial constraints.The government will not make “false promises” merely to secure votes in the run-up to the 2027 Assembly elections, he said.In an interview to The Tribune, Arora acknowledged the potential electoral significance of the agitation involving around 4 lakh employees and 3.50 lakh pensioners, but alleged that sections of employees were playing into the hands of Opposition parties and attempting to “arm-twist” the government as the elections draw closer.“I reiterate that employees and pensioners are an integral part of the government’s family, and we are open to resolving their just demands through discussions,” he said, while maintaining that the state could not meet demands beyond what its finances permitted.Arora said the present government had inherited an accumulated liability of around Rs 14,000 crore on account of salary benefits announced by previous governments, but not paid to employees. “But we had started clearing this liability and around Rs 4,500 crore has already been cleared by the AAP government under a payment plan approved by the High Court,” he said.Arora argued that the entire outstanding amount could not be paid within a month or even a year, but said the government was prepared to ensure that no Punjab government employee’s take-home salary was lower than that of a Central government employee in the same rank and post.The remarks come at a politically delicate juncture for the Mann government, which is facing sustained employee protests over DA arrears and other service-related demands. Arora, however, sought to project the government as employee-friendly, citing the recruitment of around 71,000 new employees, and other efforts being taken to regularise the services of outsourced and contractual employees.Asked about the insistence of the AAP government to continue subsidies despite empty coffers and the government adding Rs 2 lakh crore to the state’s debt, taking it to nearly Rs 4.50 lakh crore by March 2027, Arora defended the government’s handling of finances. He said the issue should be viewed from the perspective of the borrowings being productive or unproductive. “I agree we have borrowed money, but it is within the limit prescribed by the RBI. The borrowings are being used to build schools, colleges, roads, healthcare and other infrastructure, besides the purchase of a private thermal plant at Goindwal Sahib for Rs 1,080 crore. “With the AAP in power, the state’s excise revenue increased from Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 13,000 crore,” he said. Defending welfare expenditure, including subsidies, Arora argued that the government had to strike a balance between welfare measures and revenue generation.On the Enforcement Directorate investigation linked to the Jattvibetec City/Altus land controversy, Arora denied any wrongdoing and rejected allegations of his involvement. He said he did not know the promoters of Jattvibetec project, though he acknowledged his long-standing friendship with realtor Gaurav Dhir. He maintained that neither he nor Dhir had been named as an accused in the FIR or enforcement case information report.“The housing policy under which the disputed transactions allegedly took place dates back to 2012, during the Akali-BJP government, and again during the Congress government. Any investigation in this would be incomplete if successive housing ministers in different regimes were to be let off, rather than selectively targeting individuals,” he said.On the farmers’ agitation against the government’s land-pooling policy, Arora said he was ready to hold talks with “anybody and everybody”, but sought clarity on the protesters’ demands and whom they wanted to engage with.