Chandigarh, October 23: Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Friday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's claim that the Aam Aadmi Party will be ousted in the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, saying governments are decided by the people, not by any one leader.
Source: ANI via Devdiscourse
"Well, it won't happen just because Amit Shah says so; it will happen based on what the people say," Mann told ANI in Chandigarh. He asserted that democracy rests on the mandate of ordinary people, who will decide Punjab's political future on the basis of his government's work.
Source: ANI via Devdiscourse
Mann also counter-attacked Shah on the drug issue — as his allegation, not as an established fact. He claimed the largest drug cartels were formed during the 2007-2017 Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP government in Punjab, and alleged that Gujarat has now, in his words, "effectively become the largest supplier of drugs" because of massive consignments landing at its ports.
Source: ANI via Daily Prabhat
"Drugs are arriving from Gujarat; the authorities themselves have acknowledged seizing narcotics worth Rs 20,000 crore. While drones might cross the border from Pakistan, what about the ports? How do they get through the ports?" Mann said, according to ANI. "If shipments of 3,000 kilograms are arriving at these ports, it implies that, as far as our country is concerned, Gujarat has effectively become the largest supplier of drugs." These are Mann's allegations; no independent agency finding to that effect was cited in the reports.
Source: ANI via APNA MA TV
Shah's side of the exchange: on October 20 in Ludhiana, after the Parminder Singh Jhota murder case was transferred to the CBI, Shah asked Mann to hand over probes into two more deaths of anti-drug activists to the CBI as well, saying the state government "will not be able to handle it," ANI reported. Shah had met the families of Bikramjit Singh in Gurdaspur, Gulzar Singh in Sangrur and Parwinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, who were killed or died by suicide after, according to their families, standing up to the drug trade.
Source: ANI via Devdiscourse
The exchange is the latest round in the BJP-AAP war of words ahead of 2027. Shah has said Punjab will get an NDA government; SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal has since said his party is open to an alliance with any party matching its ideology except the Congress and the AAP. No formal alliance has been announced, and Punjab BJP leaders have publicly projected a solo contest on all 117 seats.
Shah (BJP): AAP will be ousted in 2027; Punjab will get an NDA government; the state government cannot handle the anti-drug death probes. Mann (AAP): People, not Shah, will decide 2027; the biggest cartels formed under the SAD-BJP government (his allegation); Gujarat ports are the route for the largest consignments (his allegation).
What is solid
- Bhagwant Mann told ANI on October 23 that the 2027 outcome will be decided by the people, not by Amit Shah's statements
- Mann alleged in the same interaction that Gujarat has effectively become the largest supplier of drugs, citing reported seizures worth Rs 20,000 crore and 3,000 kg shipments at ports
- Amit Shah on October 20 asked Punjab to hand two more anti-drug activist death probes to the CBI and met the Jhota, Bikramjit Singh and Gulzar Singh families
What is only claimed
- Mann's claim that the largest drug cartels formed under the 2007-2017 SAD-BJP government — an allegation by the Chief Minister, not an agency finding
- Shah's claim that AAP will be ousted and Punjab will get an NDA government in 2027 — a political prediction, not a result