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BJP national president Nitin Nabin on Wednesday said the party would make the drug menace, corruption and what it described as “anarchy” under the Aam Aadmi Party government central issues in the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. Signalling an aggressive campaign against the Bhagwant Mann government, Nabin said the BJP was prepared to take these issues directly to voters as it seeks to expand its political footprint in the border state ahead of the polls due early next year.
Speaking at his first press conference at the BJP headquarters in New Delhi since becoming the party’s national president in January, Nabin alleged that the prevailing situation in Punjab required the BJP to confront the AAP government “head-on”. He said the party believed a widespread public movement against drugs was urgently needed and announced that the BJP would spearhead such a campaign in the coming days.
Anti-drug campaign across Punjab
The BJP is preparing a 12-day statewide anti-drug campaign from September 18 to 30, covering all 117 Assembly constituencies. Nabin is expected to flag off the programme, while senior central leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other ministers, are likely to participate at different stages. The campaign is being positioned as one of the party’s biggest mass-contact exercises ahead of the Assembly elections.
The drug crisis has increasingly become a major political battleground in Punjab. The BJP has sought to accuse the AAP government of failing to curb the availability of narcotics despite making the issue one of its principal promises before coming to power. The recent death of a Sangrur villager after he had publicly raised concerns about the availability of drugs has further intensified the political confrontation, with opposition parties targeting the state government.
AAP inductions also targeted
Nabin also questioned some of the recent political inductions into the AAP, arguing that they posed concerns for both Punjab and the country. His remarks were apparently aimed at the induction of Gurpreet Singh Sekhon, who was among the accused in the 2016 Nabha jailbreak case.
The BJP chief said the party would take what he described as corruption and deteriorating governance under the AAP government to the “electoral battlefield”. The party has also been repeatedly attacking the Mann government over law and order as it attempts to build a broader campaign around security, governance and drugs rather than rely on a single electoral issue.
Nabin silent on Akali alliance
Nabin, however, did not answer questions on whether the BJP could revive an alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal ahead of the election. The BJP has publicly been preparing to contest all 117 constituencies independently, with its state organisation working to strengthen booth-level structures and expand its presence beyond its traditional urban strongholds.
The coming months are expected to see the BJP intensify its Punjab campaign as it attempts to position itself as a principal challenger to AAP. Nabin said BJP leaders and workers operate “24x7”, indicating that organisational mobilisation would accelerate as the state moves closer to the 2027 electoral contest.
