Barnala, May 1 -- Nearly a week after Rajinder Gupta, Rajya Sabha member and founder of billion-dollar Trident Group, switched from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), officials from the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) raided the textile major's Dhaula unit here on Thursday. The PPCB team, comprising at least 18 officials, arrived in six vehicles around 2 pm and inspected the premises, people familiar with the matter said. The BJP was quick to dub the raid as political vendetta, a charge rubbished by the ruling party. On April 24, seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs, including Gupta, constituting two-thirds of its total strength of 10 in the Upper House, defected to the BJP, dealing a major blow to the party. Along with Gupta, Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Kumar Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Vikramjit Singh Sahney (all from Punjab), and Swati Maliwal (Delhi) had switched loyalties. A Padma Shri awardee, Gupta, 67, had taken oath as a Rajya Sabha MP in November last year after the seat fell vacant when AAP's Sanjeev Arora won the Ludhiana West bypoll and joined the Punjab cabinet. Gupta, one of the most influential and prominent businessmen of Punjab, has a net worth of over Rs.10,600 crore, according to reports. "The team collected samples of discharged effluent, groundwater, and other relevant materials, to ensure strict compliance with environmental safety standards," said a PPCB official, who was part of the raiding team, on condition of anonymity. "The team left at 7.30 pm," he added. While PPCB chairperson Reenu Gupta didn't respond to HT's calls and texts, Barnala executive engineer Surinderjit Singh said he was not aware of the raid. Rupinder Gupta, manager of Trident's outlets in Sanghera and Dhaula, confirmed that a PPCB team had inspected the premises. He, however, refused to give further details. Gupta, who recently returned from the US after heart surgery, did not respond to HT's calls and texts. Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma alleged that the raid was conducted at the behest of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and chief minister Bhagwant Mann in an attempt to "settle political scores". "PPCB raid on Trident reeks of political vendetta.The only fault of Gupta is that he dared to join the BJP for the betterment of Punjab, which has made him a target of the state government," he said. Congress leader Sukhpal Singh Khaira wrote on X: "Why do Kejriwal and Mann criticise the BJP for misusing the ED, CBI and other agencies? This is exactly what the AAP is doing to browbeat its opponents." AAP spokesperson Neel Garg trashed the Opposition's allegations of vendetta politics, saying that the action was just routine checking by the PPCB. He stated that whenever there is a complaint, it's the board's duty to carry out checking. Responding to BJP and Congress leaders' allegations that the MP's business was being targeted because he left the AAP to join the BJP, Garg said neither the party nor the state government had no role in this matter. "Can they cite even one instance where they filed a complaint against this company and no action was taken?" he asked. In 2022, farmers associated with Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) had staged protest in Barnala, Moga, Ludhiana, Amritsar and Patiala against the "pollution caused by the Trident factory and its effect on crops". They alleged that the factory discharges untreated or poorly treated wastewater that contaminates soil and impacts crops....