India, Aug. 22 -- The row over Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) outreach programme in Punjab escalated on Thursday, with police detaining nearly 500 saffron party leaders and workers to thwart their plan to hold "awareness camps" at 39 places in the state.

While the BJP claimed that these camps are being held to ensure that the benefits of the central schemes, including Ayushman Bharat and Kisan Samman Nidhi and others, reach people in the state, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government maintained they have credible reports that certain private operators, allegedly on behalf of the BJP, are illegally collecting personal data of local residents in the name of government schemes.

Separately, a delegation of Punjab BJP met Governor Gulab Chand K...