Reacting sharply to the Shiromani Akali Dal's (SAD) assertion that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi's recent visits to Punjab were without any agenda, Anandpur Sahib MP Ravneet Singh Bittu said on Monday that the SAD had no right to interfere in internal matters of the Congress.
Talking to mediapersons here, he said Rahul had been visiting Punjab to ascertain the causes of the party's defeat in the assembly elections by meeting party leaders and workers at the grassroots level.
He said Rahul's visits had made Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal nervous as he (Badal) is afraid that efforts of a national leader like Rahul Gandhi to strengthen the Congress in Punjab could weaken the SAD's hold on the state.
Bittu alleged that the Akali-BJP government was responsible for drug abuse among the youth of the state. He reiterated that a large number of youths from the CM's own village were hooked to drugs.
The MP refuted the CM's assertion that he (Bittu) had never visited Badal village and had been making baseless statements about the youth of the village being hooked to drugs.
"I have never issued any baseless statements. I visited and stayed at Badal village for a night about four years ago during my tour to various parts of the state as president of the Punjab Youth Congress. I got a first-hand account of the state of affairs regarding drug addiction among the youth in the village," Bittu said.
{{/usCountry}}"I have never issued any baseless statements. I visited and stayed at Badal village for a night about four years ago during my tour to various parts of the state as president of the Punjab Youth Congress. I got a first-hand account of the state of affairs regarding drug addiction among the youth in the village," Bittu said.
{{/usCountry}}