Chandigarh Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will lead a protest sit-in by the party on June 13 at Jalandhar against the scourge of drugs and deteriorating law and order in Punjab, a senior party leader said on Thursday.
The dharna at Jalandhar, 150 km from here, comes amid a raging row over the drugs abuse depicted in the upcoming Bollywood movie ‘Udta Punjab’.
Rahul was earlier criticised by the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal leadership for saying that over 70 per cent of Punjab residents were consuming drugs.
“Rahul has been consistently raising the issue of (consumption of) drugs in Punjab. When he raised the issue in Punjab in 2012, the Akalis accused him of maligning the Punjabi youth. The situation has now gone from bad to worse as the Akalis never bothered to tackle the problem,” Congress state leader Rana Gurjeet Singh said here.
“The eradication of drugs from Punjab is top priority for the Congress and the protest event will be held in that context only,” the Congress leader said.
IANS