Delhi CM flays AAP government in Punjab for failing to curb drug menace

Since the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had assumed power in Punjab in 2022, it had been issuing new deadlines to eradicate the drug menace from the State, but had completely failed to keep its word and could not realistically be expected to eradicate drugs at all, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said on Saturday (September 19, 2026), hitting out at the ruling AAP government in Punjab.

“When the AAP came to power in Punjab, they promised to eliminate drugs from the State within three months. The deadline was extended, first by three months and then by four months, and has now been extended six times. A government that keeps giving new deadlines cannot be expected to eradicate drugs,” Ms. Gupta said. She was addressing a public gathering at Fatehgarh Sahib, ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Punjab unit flagging off the second ‘Nasha Mukt (drug free) Punjab Yatra’.

“The 13-day ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’ will become a campaign to free Punjab from this government,” Ms. Gupta said, adding that she had come from Delhi to “expose” AAP supremo and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, whom she described as the “super Chief Minister of Punjab”.

AAP leaders were spending the Punjabis’ hard-earned money in other States to serve their (the AAP’s) political interests, she alleged.

“Punjabis were first misled in the name of the so-called ‘Delhi model ’, and Punjab was subsequently pushed deeper into debt. Who will repay the State’s ₹5 lakh crore debt? I am sure the people of Punjab will drive Kejriwal out this time,” Ms. Gupta said.

After facing political setbacks in Delhi, Mr. Kejriwal had shifted his political focus to Punjab, Ms. Gupta said, alleging the AAP leadership was misusing public resources.

“Those who were responsible for the misgovernance of Delhi are now sitting in Punjab and have been exploiting the State for the last five years,” she said.

The Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra was not merely a political programme but a call for collective action, she said. “This yatra is not merely a journey. It is the beginning of a movement to free Punjab from drugs, crime and fear,” the BJP leader said.

Gang violence, targeted killings and a sense of insecurity were spreading across Punjab, she claimed. “The countdown to the end of the present government will begin on the 13th day of the Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra,” the Delhi CM said.

Assembly elections are due in Punjab in early 2027.