Only we have antidote to corruption, says Arvind Kejriwal, draws ire of rivals

BATALA/JALANDHAR: Stepping up his attack on the Punjab government, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal today said only his party had the "antidote" to corruption and vowed to put an end to the drug menace in the state within a few months if his party was voted to power in the 2017 Assembly polls, prompting a counter offensive by the ruling SAD and opposition Congress, which claimed he was luring voters with "false promises".

Alleging that a "mining mafia" was extorting money from owners of stone crushing units in Punjab, he said this would be checked "within 24 hours" of his party coming to power. The SAD government appointed a nodal officer for checking illegal mining hours after the Delhi Chief Minister's remarks.

"I have been in Punjab for the last four days. Wherever I went, I have been getting information about rampant corruption. Corruption is at its peak under this government and has taken the state backward.

"Only we have the antidote to end corruption from its root. Only we can remove it in Punjab. Delhi is an example. Within 49 days, we put an end to corruption due to which people voted us back to power with 67 of 70 seats," the Delhi Chief Minister, who is on a five-day tour of Punjab, said at a rally in Jalandhar.

On the drug menace, he alleged that the police-politician nexus was helping its spread rather than end it.

"The intention of this (SAD-BJP) government is not to end drug menace because the police-politician nexus is helping its spread. When we come to power, we will break the complete supply chain within three-four months," he said.

Hitting back at the AAP leader, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa said he was trying to lure Punjabis with "fake promises" and "grab" power in the state.

Claiming that the national capital was the "main source of drug supply" in the country and that the AAP government had failed to contain the problem there, Dhindsa asked Kejriwal to break the network of drug suppliers in Delhi if he was so concerned about the issue.