New Delhi, October 19: Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday launched a pre-emptive strike ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's Punjab visit, warning Punjab's voters that backing his rivals would amount to inviting "their gangster son-in-law" into the state.

Posting in Hindi on X, Kejriwal wrote: "They can't even manage law and order in their own states. They've made the country's biggest gangster their son-in-law and given him every facility to commit crimes not just in India but all over the world." He added: "And tomorrow these people will come to Punjab to lecture on law and order. The people of Punjab know that voting for them would be like inviting their son-in-law to Punjab."

The post named neither the gangster nor any party or leader. It landed a day before Shah's announced October 20 visit to Mansa, Sangrur and Gurdaspur to meet the families of people killed after speaking out against drug traffickers, and in the immediate aftermath of the firing on actor Tiger Shroff's vehicle in Mumbai — a case in which, as Awaaz Punjab has reported, police have not verified any gang's claim of responsibility.

Allegation (made by Kejriwal): The charge that Kejriwal's rivals have adopted "the country's biggest gangster" as a "son-in-law" and given him facilities to commit crimes in India and abroad is a political allegation against unnamed persons. One report (Khelja) identified the reference as gangster Lawrence Bishnoi; Kejriwal did not name him, and Awaaz Punjab has not verified that identification or the allegation itself. No response from the BJP or any other implied party had been reported at the time of writing. In a separate post on October 16, Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP spread drugs in Punjab through the Adani port, protected a gangster figure in Sabarmati jail, and colluded with a "chitta party" between 2007 and 2017 — allegations the BJP has contested in the ongoing exchange and which Awaaz Punjab has not independently verified.

Monday's post completes a full circle of accusation within 48 hours: the BJP and Congress are blaming the AAP government for Punjab's drug and gangster crisis, and AAP is answering that the accusers themselves shelter the gangsters. For Punjab's voters, the competing claims share one feature — none of them, so far, comes with evidence placed in the public domain.

Sources: Nation Press; Khelja; PTI via Nagaland Post (Oct 16 background)