Political slugfest over drugs goes unabated between Capt, Harsimrat
Thursday, 06/06/2019
https://www.brightpunjabexpress.com/index.php/2019/06/05/political-slugfest-over-drugs-goes-unabated-between-capt-harsimrat/
Apparently embolden by her victory, third in a row against all odds, the Union Minister for Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal has entered into a slugfest with no less a person than the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh himself on the issue of tackling drugs in the state. For last few days, she has been taking on the Chief Minister on the issue while quoting the Congress MLAs to support her allegations. After having been snubbed by the Chief Minister, who said, whether she was “dumb”, Badal’s twitter handle has been flashing the videos of some of the Congress MLAs and an MP where they have flagged their concern for drugs in the state. To this the Chief Minister remarked with his characteristic wit and sarcasm, that his (Congress) MLAs have been baying for their (Badals’) blood and want him to send all of them to jail even without any investigation. “Should I listen to them and throw you all behind bars?” he remarked. It all started after the Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking a national drug policy to curb the scourge of drugs in the state. Capt Amarinder has been arguing for a national drug policy since the days of his previous tenure also. The Chief Minister wrote to the Prime Minister on June 1, for the national drug policy in “larger national interest”. Harsimrat retorted in a tweet, telling the Chief Minister, “instead of diverting attention, from your failure to fulfill oath taken in the name of Guru Gobind Singh to wipe out drugs in 4 weeks, by writing to the Prime Minister, you should fulfill your oath”. The tweet went on to allege that two years of Congress government had seen all time high drug deaths and his (CM’s) own MLAs were blaming police-political nexus. Reacting sharply and strongly to her allegations, Chief Minister said, “Is she (Harsimrat) so dumb that she does not know that drugs is an inter-state problem, with national repercussions? With poppy cultivation legal in some states and Pakistan also pushing drugs from across the borders, anyone with a little sense would have figured out the importance of collective efforts by all states, spearheaded by the central government, to tackle the menace. But Harsimrat is in the habit of shooting from her mouth, without understanding the meaning or implications of her words”. To this, Harsimrat Badal retorted, “I seem to have hit the target. Suddenly you become expert at trashing facts which don’t suit you… Please trash your MLAs also for protesting against drug menace”. Her twitter handle posted video clips of some of the MLAs including Raja Warring and Kulbir Zeera, besides Rajya Sabha MP, Shamsher Singh Dullo raising the issue of drugs. She asked the CM, “Raja Sahib, how will you now trash your own party Rajya Sabha member’s bold disclosure”. Responding to Harsimrat’s tweet, the Chief Minister said his party MLAs had also been baying for the blood of the Badals and wanted them to be punished without even a proper investigation in many cases, including sacrilege and drugs. “So I should listen to them and throw you all behind bars,” he remarked while taking a jibe at Harsimrat.
