Saini delivered a similar charge-sheet against the AAP government at Balachaur on 31 October, the second stop of his Punjab campaign swing. Read the Balachaur report

Phagwara: Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini used a visit to Phagwara in Punjab on Monday, 9 November, to launch a broad political attack on the state's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government, while promising that not a single existing welfare scheme in Punjab would be discontinued.

Saini was chief guest at the Shri Vishwakarma Pooja Mahotsav in Phagwara. He called on the people of Punjab to join hands to make the state drug-free, said Punjab and Haryana share close ties, and argued that collective effort was needed to protect the younger generation. Referring to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's recent statement during his Punjab visit, Saini said the state could be made drug-free by 2029. That is his claim; the Punjab government has consistently presented its own 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' enforcement figures in the opposite direction.

The charge-sheet against AAP

Accusing the AAP government of betraying farmers and women — Saini's allegations, which are labelled as such here — he said the party had won votes by promising to purchase farmers' entire produce at the Minimum Support Price (MSP) but had not honoured the commitment, and questioned how many women were actually receiving the promised Rs 1,000. "This is not an Aam Aadmi government; it is a government of special people. It is involved in corruption," he said. No AAP response was carried in either of the two reports checked for this story.

Stubble, drugs and the Jhota case

On stubble burning, Saini said Haryana had provided more than 1.5 lakh agricultural implements to farmers at subsidised rates and pays Rs 1,200 per acre directly into the bank accounts of farmers who do not burn residue. Targeting the Punjab government, he said that in five years "all we hear are jokes" and that jokes cannot solve problems. He also predicted the government had "only two months" left because the people of Punjab were frustrated with it — a campaign prediction, not a fact.

On drug trafficking, Saini said properties worth more than Rs 12 crore belonging to alleged drug offenders had been demolished in Haryana and that hardcore offenders were sent to jail, presenting that model for Punjab. On the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota, he said the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was probing the case and would establish the facts.

'No scheme will be shut'

His most concrete political assurance was on welfare schemes: "We will not shut down even a single scheme. All existing schemes will continue in Punjab exactly as they are, and we will also implement the schemes introduced by Modi ji here," he said.

MP Ashok Mittal, former Union ministers Vijay Sampla and Som Parkash, and other dignitaries were present at the Phagwara event, according to the event report.

Third Punjab swing in three weeks

This was at least Saini's third political swing through Punjab in three weeks — he made similar charges in Jalandhar on 19 October and at Balachaur on 31 October. With the 2027 Assembly election approaching, the BJP is keeping drugs, farm promises and the women's assistance promise at the centre of its Punjab campaign, and the repetition of the same charge-sheet is itself the political signal.