Amit Shah sounds poll bugle in Moga in BJP's Punjab outreach bid, says 'people want change'

PTC News Desk: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the ruling Aam Aadmi Party government in Punjab while addressing mega rally in Moga district, sounding BJP's poll bugle for assembly elections slated for 2027. 

Moga holds significant political revarance as it is a crucial Malwa belt of Punjab, which accounts for 69 out of 117 assembly seats in the state. 

Shah while addressing the rally, took a sharp swipe at the AAP government and claimed that the state is reeling under the drug menace, religious conversions, and rapidly increasing influence of gangsters. He asserted that only Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP can free the state from the drug menace.

"If Punjab has to be freed from drugs, it can only be done by a double-engine BJP government," he said.

Shah alleged that farmers are facing difficulties and industries are leaving the state, blaming successive governments led by the Indian National Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal and Aam Aadmi Party for the situation.

Referring to the 2024 Indian general election, 2024, Shah said the BJP secured around 19 per cent of the vote share in Punjab and claimed that whenever the party reaches such a level of support in a state, it eventually goes on to form the government.

He also targeted the AAP leadership, alleging that the Punjab government is effectively being run from New Delhi. Shah said Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann spends his time accompanying AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal to political events across the country at the expense of the state exchequer.

"The Aam Aadmi Party came to power on the promise of change. I want to ask the leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party: What exactly is your Chief Minister doing? Across the entire country, wherever Kejriwal needs to travel, this Chief Minister has done nothing other than chartering aircraft at the Punjab government's expense and flying him there as his personal pilot," Shah said.

"The Punjab government has turned into an ATM for Arvind Kejriwal," Shah alleged, adding that the chief minister should feel ashamed for allowing leaders from Delhi to control the state's administration.