I have no problem taking a drug test: Punjab CM Amarinder Singh
Amarinder Singh
Singh's statement came a day after he announced all Punjab government employees would have to take annual drug tests. Opposition BJP leaders retorted that he should take the test first before forcing it on government employees
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said Thursday that he had no problem with taking a drug test.
His statement came a day after he announced that all Punjab government employees, including police personnel, would have to take annual drug tests.
On Tuesday, Punjab had recommended the death penalty for drug peddling and smuggling.
"I have no problem taking a dope test. Given the gigantic scale of drug problem, nobody should be having problems about taking such a test," ANI quoted Singh as saying.
Singh's statement came after news reports quoted Punjab's BJP leaders as saying the chief minister should get a dope test first, before forcing it on government employees.
Punjab has a massive drug problem, in part due to the border it shares with Pakistan which is awash with heroin from Afghanistan. News reports have earlier alleged that the state's drug trade was controlled by people in the highest echelons of the previous SAD-BJP government.
Tackling the drug menace had been a Congress poll promise, with Singh saying he would rid the state of the problem in 4 weeks.
The SAD's Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is union cabinet minister of food processing, meanwhile said, "All those leaders, including those who called 70% Punjabis 'nashedis', should undergo the dope test first."
Badal was referring to Congress President Rahul Gandhi who had said in 2011 that seven out of every 10 youths in Punjab were drug addicts — Gandhi had been trying to elucidate how large Punjab's drug problem is.
BJP MP Subramanian Swamy meanwhile made the startling claim that that "Rahul Gandhi takes cocaine and will fail thedope test".