Kejriwal questions Amit Shah over drug menace in BJP-ruled states

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal challenged Shah to demonstrate results in Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa before making claims about Punjab

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday slammed Union home minister Amit Shah over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) “so-called campaign against drugs in Punjab”, questioning its failure to tackle drug menace in BJP-ruled states.

Kejriwal claimed that under the Bhagwant Mann government, the party had promised a safer Punjab, and was delivering on that promise. (HT)

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal challenged Shah to demonstrate results in Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa before making claims about Punjab. “Bihar, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Goa all have BJP governments. Why has the drug menace not been eradicated there? Have no deadlines been set for eliminating drugs in these states?” he posted on X, questioning the claims made by Shah at a public meeting in Delhi.

The AAP leader asked the home minister whether he was now claiming that drugs would be eliminated in Punjab in the same way that he had supposedly eliminated them in Bihar. “Before speaking about Punjab, Shah must first demonstrate that he can eliminate drugs in BJP-ruled states,” he said.

Kejriwal claimed that under the Bhagwant Mann government, the party had promised a safer Punjab, and was delivering on that promise. He said since 2022, more than 1.27 lakh arrests had been made in drug-related cases, 7,260 kilograms of heroin seized, and 1,288 criminal modules were busted. “This is only the beginning. We are committed to completely eliminating drugs and gangsters from Punjab,” he added.

BJP ‘misusing’ drug issue ahead of polls: Sanjay Singh

AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh on Thursday accused the BJP of misusing central agencies and the drug issue for electoral gains while targeting the Bhagwant Mann government in Punjab.

He said the BJP was attempting to divert attention from its own “failures” by politicising drugs ahead of the 2027 Punjab assembly elections.

Singh was in Amritsar, where he appeared before a local court to record his statement in a defamation case filed by Shiromani Akal Dal (SAD) leader Bikram Singh Majithia.

Launching an attack on opposition parties in Punjab, Singh said that the BJP was “systematically misusing” investigative agencies to win elections.