A child of controversy, Bikram Majithia who also happens to be the brother of former union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal, was accused of a few offences under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. He has been accused of facilitating drug peddlers, but his party and the Badals who lead it have strongly stood by him, alleging that the cases are a part of political vendetta.

Sidhu has hinged his Punjab model on two main issues— justice in sacrilege cases and breaking the drug cartel. To this effect, he has taken on not just Captain Amarinder Singh but also his own party’s Charanjit Singh Channi government for going slow on both cases. In fact, in an embarrassment to the Congress and the Channi government, Sidhu declared that he would go on hunger strike if no arrests were made in the drugs case. In private he accused state home minister Sukhi Randhawa and CM Channi of being soft on Majithia.

But the Akalis sprung a surprise and a possible masterstroke by pitting Majithia opposite the man who made drug-free Punjab his mission and portrayed his rival as a narcotics kingpin.

“The biggest judges are the courts. Every court of law has acquitted me,” Majithia tells News18.com. “They have found nothing against me. This is all politically motivated. If they were keen to control drugs then the entire police force appointed by Captain and even Channi would have been changed and upright officers would have been appointed. I am not scared. They have political compulsions and they will do what they want to do.”

Majithia has bitter words for his opponent in Amritsar East. “It’s true that he won from here because of us that. That time he was with us. Today he is not on our side but with them, so he is now pointing fingers at me. He was like a brother but this is politics for some. I am not like him. He has used me but I will defeat him. Where has his development happened in his constituency? He talks about the Punjab model for the state but where is the model here?”