
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann addresses the media after laying the foundation stone of a water treatment plant, in Dhuri, Sangrur district, Punjab, Wednesday, October 7, 2026. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Sardar Kewal Singh Dhillon on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) attacked the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann over the deteriorating law-and-order situation, drug menace, gangsterism, and economic distress in the State.
At a press conference held at the BJP headquarters, and in the presence of the party’s national spokesperson, Sardar R.P. Singh, Mr. Dhillon addressed the recent murder of Parvinder Singh Jhota, who had spoken out against the State’s drug problem. Mr. Dhillon remarked that the state, once renowned for its Gurus, Pirs, Prophets, brave warriors who defended the country, athletes, and the Green Revolution, is increasingly associated with a substance abuse crisis.

“There is hardly a day in Punjab when people do not wake up to reports of several people being shot dead,” he said. He added that the BJP national president Nitin Nabin launched a major procession against drug abuse, which several Union Ministers also joined, concluding in Jalandhar.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah had addressed a public rally, claiming only the BJP could eradicate drug abuse. Setting March 31, 2029, as the deadline, Mr. Shah said the BJP was committed to uprooting the drug menace from Punjab if the people gave the party the mandate to form the government in the State.
Mr. Dhillon also raised the issues of Punjab’s rising debt, corruption allegations, industrial decline, power shortages, delayed Dearness Allowance payments to government employees, and waterlogged mandis affecting paddy procurement.

Published – October 14, 2026 07:56 pm IST
