CHANDIGARH: With the Assembly elections in the offing, parties have buckled their belts. Pitching to the people, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi addressed a protest rally in Jalandhar, against the rising drug menace in the state. Promising that his party would solve the issue in a month's time, Gandhi said, "If Punjab needs a better future, there is no other way but to stop drug menace in the state. On one side there is the drug menace, and on the other, there are law and order and unemployment issues."
Throwing dirt at the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab, he said the state wasn't giving enough freedom to the handful of good officers who want to pull the plug on drugs. Contradicting RaGa's claims, the Aam Aadmi Party dubbed the protest as ridiculous and alleged that the Congress was adopting double standards as the grand old party had failed to initiate any action on the same.
AAP leader Sanjay Singh said, former Chief Election Commissioner of India SY Quraishi had informed Manmohan Singh about the scale of the drug menace in Punjab during the 2012 assembly polls. It had also cited the seizure of 53 kg heroin and 434 kg opium besides other drugs and had requested the union government to take action. The PM did nothing and just acknowledged the letter."
Congress' protest comes at a time when there is already an ongoing controversy over the certification of 'Udta Punjab', a film based on the drug abuse in the region.
