Chandigarh: Former Punjab deputy chief minister and Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa on Monday described assembly speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan’s admission that the Punjab govt had failed to fulfil its guarantee to eliminate drugs as the biggest acknowledgement of Mann govt’s failure.Randhawa said the admission came not from the opposition but from a person holding one of the state’s highest constitutional offices and exposed the gap between the AAP govt’s claims and ground reality.He said AAP had promised to make Punjab drug-free in the 2022 assembly elections, while chief minister Bhagwant Singh Mann repeatedly claimed his govt would eradicate the menace. “However, more than four years later, the assembly speaker himself is admitting that govt has failed to fulfil its guarantee,” he said.Randhawa alleged that the drug problem remained serious in Punjab’s villages and cities and accused the govt of relying on advertisements and publicity instead of dismantling trafficking networks and ensuring rehabilitation.“The battle against drugs cannot be won through statements alone; it requires dismantling organised trafficking networks, ensuring rehabilitation for young people, and enforcing the law impartially,” he said.He demanded that Mann explain why the promise to eliminate drugs had not been fulfilled and who would take responsibility. Randhawa said Congress would raise the issue in Parliament.
