Punjab's anti-drug campaign another publicity stunt: BJP

Chandigarh, July 1 (IANS) Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann’s anti-drug campaign is just another publicity stunt, much like his anti-corruption drive, aimed at misleading Punjabis, BJP leader and state media chief Vineet Joshi said on Tuesday.

Substantiating his claims, Joshi cited proof that shortly after forming the government on May 24, 2022, CM Mann had claimed to have received evidence of corruption against his minister, Vijay Singla, and stated that the minister had confessed before him.

CM Mann then accepted Singla’s resignation and had him arrested by the Vigilance Bureau. However, the Vigilance Bureau recently submitted a closure report in a Mohali court, stating that neither Singla nor his OSD, Pradeep Kumar, had admitted to corruption.

Joshi questioned how the Vigilance Bureau could give Singla a clean chit if he had indeed confessed.

“This proves Bhagwant Mann lied and misled Punjabis. Similarly, in the anti-drug campaign too, Punjabis are being fooled with false promises,” he claimed.

Joshi questioned why CM Mann was hesitating to take action against AAP leaders and MLAs who have been publicly accused of involvement in the drug trade in districts like Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, and Mohali.

Exposing Mann’s double standards, Joshi pointed out that AAP MLA Ajay Gupta had publicly alleged that “drugs were being sold openly, and some top AAP leaders are involved in it”.

Similarly, legislator Kunwar Vijay Pratap, now expelled from the AAP, had accused two police officers of being complicit in the drug trade, who were said to be close to Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha.

“Why is Mann shying away from investigating these allegations made by his own party leaders?”

On June 16, state BJP President Sunil Jakhar wrote to Mann, urging him to request the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to order a time-bound probe with the help of a credible agency or a multi-agency investigation under the Chief Justice’s supervision to expose the powerful and influential beneficiaries of drug money.

“Why has Mann not taken any action on this letter or written to the Chief Justice?” he questioned.

Joshi concluded by saying, “The AAP government is busy protecting its leaders instead of taking strict action against drugs. If the government is honest, it must act immediately in all these cases. The lives of Punjab’s youth are at stake, and the AAP government’s silence is only worsening the problem.”

--IANS

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