Congress MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira was arrested by the Punjab Police in connection with a 2015 drug trafficking case. and remanded in police custody for two days. The arrest resulted in a war of words between the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and the Congress, who are essentially coalition partners in I.N.D.I.A bloc. Punjab Congress leaders slammed the AAP government over the arrest and asked if it was the politics of "badlav" (change) promised by the party. The Punjab Congress has already opposed any alliance with the ruling AAP in the state for the general elections.
Several senior Congress leaders, including Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa and former chief ministers Charanjit Singh Channi and Rajinder Kaur Bhathal, fully backed Khaira and hit out at the AAP government for indulging in political vendetta. Khaira also received support from senior Akali leader Bikram Singh Majithia who criticised the police action against the Bholath legislator.
India TV in its poll - Is Congress leader Sukhpal Khaira's arrest in Punjab the beginning of the I.N.D.I.A bloc's split? also asked if the already-existing cracks would widen after the arrest. While a whooping 81 per cent people thought that there won't dampen the alliance, 15 per cent were of the view that the equation between the bloc partners may worsen. 4 per cent were undecided. 
