Ludhiana, June 10 -- With the Ludhiana West byelection scheduled for June 19, political temperatures have soared as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have entered into a fierce war of words, accusing each other of shielding drug peddlers and failing to curb the state's drug menace.

The latest salvo was fired by BJP state general secretary Anil Sarin and district president Rajnish Dhiman, who held a press conference in Ludhiana on Monday. Hitting back at earlier accusations from AAP MP Malwinder Singh Kang, Sarin accused the AAP government of being directly responsible for the ongoing drug crisis in Punjab.

"The AAP government is hand-in-glove with drug suppliers. Their much-publicised 'Yudh Nashian Virudh' c...