BJP chief Amit Shah to take up the issue of drug menace in Punjab

NEW DELHI: The BJP-SAD alliance in Punjab is in for fresh turbulence with BJP chief Amit Shah planning to take up the issue of drug menace in the state while he addresses party workers on January 12 during his Punjab trip. “Shah will address workers on the membership drive and on how to combat the drug menace affecting Punjab society,” a BJP source told ET.

Recently, PM Narendra Modi too had taken up the issue of drugs in Punjab in his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ speech on AIR. A Punjab BJP leader told ET Modi took up the issue of drug menace after feedback received by the party during Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s poll campaign in Amritsar “When national leaders of BJP and RSS travelled to Amritsar, most people complained to them about the problem of drugs, and the Akali government’s inability to deal with the matter. Four seats were won by AAP and Jaitleyji also lost the polls. That was the price we paid for the alliance,” he said.

SAD and the ruling father-son duo of Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir have been on the backfoot after the ED quizzed Punjab minister — and Sukhbir’s brother-in-law — BS Majithia in a money laundering case.

After BJP and Modi had raised concern over the drug menace in Punjab, the Badals had retorted saying if BJP-ruled states like MP and Rajasthan stopped growing opium, Punjab would have never had the problem in the first place. Such is BJP’s desire to distance itself from the Akalis and what is being considered their alleged association with the drug trade that a unit of ABVP, led by the district leader of BJP’s youth wing, gheraoed Majithia when the latter was summoned to ED’s office in Jalandhar.