Sunil Jakhar, the president of the Punjab BJP, has publicly condemned the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for its failure to release pending dearness allowance (DA) dues owed to more than 3 lakh employees and 4 lakh pensioners in Punjab. The total amount in arrears is approximately ₹15,000 crore. During a press conference in Chandigarh, Jakhar pointed out that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the government to clear these dues by June 30, but the AAP government has since moved to challenge this order in court. Jakhar stated that this situation exposes the government's anti-employee stance, marking the first time since India's independence that a state government has refused to release DA instalments and has contested the provision for granting DA. He also noted that while the Central government and BJP-ruled states like Haryana and Rajasthan provide a 60% DA, Punjab employees are receiving only 42%.