Nakodar MLA’s anti-drugs rally today; Congress leader mocks ‘AAP’s 24-hour resolve’

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, February 10

As Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Nakodar Inderjit Kaur Mann is slated to take out a bike rally against drugs on Saturday, her Congress rival Dr Navjot Singh Dahiya has chosen to mock at her.

Never made tall claims

Neither I nor anyone from my party ever claimed to end drug menace in 24 hours. How can anything which is so deep rooted be ended overnight? Inderjit Kaur Mann, Nakodar MLA

Dr Dahiya, who contested against her in 2022 Assembly polls as the Congress candidate, said, “Even as Mann had announced to weed out drugs from Punjab within 24 hours of AAP forming the government in the state, the MLA is holding a rally against drug abuse after 11 months. The wise people who voted in her favour should now be able to see the real face of AAP.”

Mann has announced that a day-long bike rally will be held across various villages of Nakodar. The rally will start from Sarinh village at 10:30 am. She will address the media at 11 am at Nurmahal Sarai after which she will move to Kandola Kalan and Uppal Bhupa villages. At 1 pm, the rally will reach Bilga Patti Mehna village and then towards Patti Bheja and Patti Neelowal before moving towards Puadra, Talwan, Rajowal, Badal Khan, Uppal Khalsa and her native Bir village before culminating in Nakodar town at 5:30 pm.

Dr Dahiya has alleged that the messages being sent across by the party read that no one should take part in the rally after having taken intoxicants. “This clearly speaks that the MLA knows about the extent of prevalence of drug addiction in her constituency”, Dr Dahiya said. He further said, “Now that she is a part of the government, it is our duty being in the Opposition to rake up such issues. It is quite ironical that the MLA will be taking out a rally highlighting the failure of her own government. She should rather be focussing on getting such a policy created by the government that the drug menace comes to an end. The government must realise that a lot of work needs to be done on ground to practically end it all”.

Mann has countered her opponent saying,”Neither me nor anyone from my party had ever claimed of ending drug menace in 24 hours. How can anything which is so deep rooted be ended overnight? Still, our government has been making every attempt to root it out. My tomorrow’s rally is not anything against the government but just an awareness campaign. I have specifically said that anyone who is an addict should not be a part of the rally for we cannot showcase them in the event. We certainly need to portray a clean, positive image to keep our youth motivated”.