SAD patronising drug racket in Punjab: Amarinder Singh

Attacking SAD over the multi-crore drug racket, Congress candidate from Amritsar Lok Sabha seat Amarinder Singh today alleged the ruling party was "patronising" the narcotics trade in the state.
He also alleged that Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia was "acting as a conduit" between the traffickers in the state and those settled abroad.
"These details were mentioned in the charge sheet filed by the investigating agencies in the multi-crore drug scandal involving a dismissed DSP (Jagdish Bhola)," Singh said while addressing a series of public meetings at Abdaal village in Majitha assembly segment and Pandoori Waraich and Hair Kalan in Attari segment.

He said people should not be scared of Majithia as the countdown for the Akali-BJP government had already started and he would soon be held accountable and answerable.
Lashing out at his BJP rival Arun Jaitley, Singh said he was trying to deviate the issue by solely blaming the central security agencies like the BSF for the drug problem in Punjab.
"There may be lapses on the border, but what ails Punjab more is the home-made synthetic drugs which are not smuggled in from Pakistan, but are manufactured in Punjab only," the former Punjab Chief Minister said.

"Is it possible to manufacture such drugs without government patronage?" he added.

Amarinder said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had betrayed the trust and faith of the farmers of the state.
Taking on Badal over farmers' issues, Singh said the Chief Minister claimed himself to be the 'messiah' of the farmers, but he had never bothered about their plight.
"Where is the power for the agriculture sector? Do you get any regular power for eight hours as was the case during my time?" he asked.
Farmers were facing harassment while selling their produce in the mandis, he alleged.
He alleged that the Badals were deliberately not allowing the real estate business to flourish so that people were forced to sell properties in distress and they could buy it for cheap price to sell it later.