With the Enforcement Directorate’s nearly 50-hour search operation at the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA) ending on Thursday, the AAP has taken its confrontation with the BJP-led Centre from the courtroom to the streets, with the party’s Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia leading the charge.As around 400 AAP workers gathered outside the GMADA headquarters in Phase 8, Mohali, this morning, the party accused the BJP of using the ED to put pressure on the Bhagwant Mann government ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections. The protest was led by AAP’s state workingpresident Amansher Singh Sherry Kalsi, besides MLA Chetan Singh Jouramajra and SS Ahluwalia.The street mobilisation of party workers was clearly meant to escalate the AAP response to the ED operations. During the nearly two-hour protest outside the GMADA office, some AAP workers also damaged cars used by the ED officers, who till then, were still inside the building. Though a posse of cops were deputed there to prevent the protesters from forcing their way into the building, the protestors did jostle with the cops, who had to use minor force. The protest ended just 30 minutes before the conclusion of the searches.Sisodia, reacting to the conclusion of the ED operation, alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “waged a war against Punjab and Punjabis” after the BJP failed to gain political traction in the state. He even suggested rechristening the ED as the Prime Minister’s “Employed Dacoits”, while alleging that the agency was being deployed to intimidate AAP leaders, government officials and workers.The AAP leader alleged that the ED action had intensified as Punjab moved closer to the Assembly elections. “The PM sent his party president Nitin Nabin to start a Nasha Mukt Yatra in the poll-bound state. The yatra failed to get any public response. Realising that this would not bode well for the BJP in the upcoming elections, the PM has unleashed the ED on Punjab.He alleged that the ED raids continued for two days, but found nothing. The ED, however, has not yet concluded whether any incriminating material was recovered.