Chandigarh: Opposition parties Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress hit out at the AAP govt over its event in Moga on Monday, saying that it organised “a political rally in the guise of a govt function”. AAP later countered the charge, with the party’s state media incharge, Baltej Pannu, saying that only members of village defence committees (VDCs) and a few aware citizens had come for the event, but it had riled the opposition. “The opposition is so troubled by the steps being taken by the state govt to make Punjab drug-free that they have started creating a noise without any reason. Opposition parties who are today crying over the use of govt money perhaps forgot their shameful history,” he said.
Earlier, SAD said the Election Commission (EC) and the Punjab governor should take notice of the event and the money spent on the rally should be recovered from the AAP and deposited with the state exchequer. Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said the Punjab chief secretary and DGP too addressed the event, which even TV channels termed as “poll bugle by the AAP”. “What more politicisation of bureaucracy can happen than this? Governor sahib, as well as the Election Commission, should take notice,” he said.BJP objected to the presence of AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal in the rally. Punjab BJP general secretary Anil Sarin said, “Arvind Kejriwal needs to clarify in which capacity he participated in the Punjab govt rally.”Sarin emphasised, “As [AAP] convenor, he can participate in the party functions, but an office-bearer of the party has nothing to do with govt functions.”Punjab BJP working president Ashwani Sharma, in a post on X, highlighted drug overdose deaths to slam the anti-drug drive of the state govt. In the Congress, MLA Pargat Singh and leader of opposition Partap Singh Bajwa hit out at the govt. Pargat said this was the first time in history that senior govt officials openly addressed a political rally from stage. He called it a serious violation of service rules and constitutional principles. “Governance cannot become a spectacle of political endorsement,” Bajwa said. “When the lines between govt and party begin to blur, probity in public life is the first casualty.“Punjab BJP president Sunil Jakhar took to X and posted, “Watching the chief secretary & DGP at AAP’s rally today, one wonders if India’s ‘steel frame’ bureaucrats are now bending to political whims.”Pannun, however, accused opposition parties of using govt vehicles to smuggle drugs when they were in power. “The public did not forget how the drug trade flourished under the patronage of those in power. AAP govt is spending the people’s money to eliminate drugs and save Punjab’s future, not to provide shelter to smugglers,” he said.He added the second phase of ‘Yudh Nashian Virudh’ will be successful because every Punjabi wanted a drug-free Punjab. “But if anyone does not want it (end to the drug menace), it is only the opposition parties. Because, as soon as drugs are eradicated, their political shop will shut down,” he added.
