BJP in Punjab has dissociated itself from the party leader Jarnail Singh, who was arrested by Rajasthan police on drug charges under NDPS act five days ago.
Police in Chttorgarh had also siezed 190 kgs of poppy husk and 3 kgs of opium from Jarnail Singh, who is the president of BJP’s minority cell in Sodhi Nagar in Ferozpur district. He was arrested along with three other people namely Sukhwinder Singh, Sadhu Ram and Pragat Singh.
Disowning Jarnail, the president of BJP’s Ferozepur minority cell said, ” We had removed him from his post and had even expelled him from the party about two months ago. So we have nothing to do with his activities.”
There are, however, hoardings in Sodhi Nagar of Jarnail, also known as Judge Nimana, thanking BJP leader Kamal Sharma for appointing him as the party’s minority morcha(rural) president. (see photo below)
Jairnail Singh’s arrest follows the arrests of several other BJP leaders from Punjab in drug trafficking cases over the past few months. Among those already arrested are four from Ferozepur alone. They are Ferozepur district president Jugraj Singh Katora, district president (Yuva Morcha) Jagpal Singh Sandhu alias Jimmy; block president (Mallanwala) Gurcharan Singh; and Amrinder Singh Chinna alias Pothi, the OSD to state BJP chief Kamal Sharma. They all were arrested from Ferozepur from accepting bribes to allegedly help drug and fake arms license dealers escape custody.
In June this year, Rajasthan police had also arrested two senior leaders of the Akali Dal, BJP’s partner in government. Asafwala Block Samiti member Vijay Kumar Kamboj alias Daddi from Fazilka district and Akali’s Block President (Rural) from Fazilka district, Mahal Singh Rana were caught with 7.5 kg of poppy husk in their possession at Pallu sub-tehsil in Hanumangarh in Rajasthan.
Punjab is scheduled to go for crucial assembly elections in 2017 and BJP-Akali face stiff challenge from Aam Aadmi Party, which recently launched its Punjab campaign.
AAP has indicated that it will make the drug menace in Punjab a huge poll issue.