Chandigarh, Oct 17: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday lashed out at the AAP government in Punjab, alleging that it had promised to wipe out the drug menace before coming to power but “completely failed” to check it.
They (AAP) sought votes by promising to eradicate the drug menace within three to six months. But the menace did not end, rather it increased, Saini said while speaking to reporters here.
Taking a swipe at Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Saini said the AAP government spent its five years by “cracking jokes”.
“It did nothing,” he said while lambasting the Mann regime over the drug menace.
Replying to a question on the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Punjab’s Mansa, Saini said it is a serious and sensitive issue.
Saini said Jhota had told the government authorities about the drug problem several times as the lives of youth were being destroyed due to this scourge.
“But the government did nothing. It indulged in corruption only. People are fed up with it,” he further said.
Known for raising his voice against drug abuse and illegal sale of addictive substances at chemist shops, Jhota was shot in broad daylight inside a medical store at a busy marketplace in Mansa on Tuesday.
Ashwani Kumar, the store owner who allegedly opened fire on Jhota after he questioned him for selling addictive drugs to an elderly man, was taken into custody from Salasar in Rajasthan.
The incident, which took place while Jhota was hosting a Facebook Live, triggered a political slugfest in Punjab, which goes to polls early next year.
