Belan impact: Oath for drug-free polls

LUDHIANA: Showing their support for the "Belan Brigade" and their initiative to ensure drug-free elections, Lok Sabha aspirants from Ludhiana attended the event organized by them on Jagraon Bridge, where they vowed to stop the use of drugs and liquor in the election campaign. All, except potential Congress candidate Manish Tewari showed up at the venue.
The candidates gave their word saying they wouldn't distribute drugs or liquor during the campaign.However, SAD candidate Manpreet Singh Ayali kicked up a storm with his comment, "I am myself against distribution of drugs. This mass movement must go on and we will support it. But people ask for drugs". The statement did not go down well with campaigners. Kimti Rawal, one of the head campaigners of belan brigade and president of Mahatar Sathi Jagriti Manch said, " This is not a blame game that can be shifted from one party to the other".
Later, Aam Aadmi party candidate from Ludhiana Harvinder Singh Phoolka also too took a dig at SAD, claiming that Bhatinda MP and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Badal's wife Harsimrat Kaur Badal had made a similar comment on national TV. "Harsimrat Kaur Badal said on national TV that people of Punjab ask for drugs and liquor and we have to give it. She said it's the people who are at fault and not the party. However, we will not only ensure it at our end, but also make sure no other party falls for this practice".
He also exhorted campaigners to join hands with the election commission and run helpline numbers that report bribery of this sort. Independent candidate Simarjit Singh Bains slammed Ayali and said an addict cannot be blamed for asking for an intoxicant. He said the fault of the person who gives him the intoxicant is greater.
All, except potential Congress candidate Manish Tewari showed up at the venue. He also expressed concern over the increasing number of liquor vendors in Punjab. "There is a liquor shop in every nook and corner of villages in the state", he said. Citing the example of Gujarat, he said, "Gujarat is a dry state but look at its flourishing economy and growth".
On being asked if liquor should also be banned in the state, HS Phoolka said he believes in working with the support of people. Ayali was also quoted as saying that he is an admirer of Arvind Kejriwal to which Phoolka retorted that the country has some 100 crore people who admire Kejriwal.
The candidates also condemned the failure of the government to file a CBI enquiry into the Bhola drug case. Congress leader and potential Lok Sabha candidate from the city Manish Tewari did not show up at the ceremony. He sent a representative, Sushil Malhotra who said the minster's daughter was to undergo surgery.