Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday sidestepped Punjab’s most contentious issues, including the release of Bandi Singhs, sharing of river waters, transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, Punjab’s share in Yamuna waters, inclusion of Punjabi-speaking areas in the state and reopening of the Kartarpur Corridor.Shah’s speech focused on drugs, where he said the party would take the drug menace to the electorate. “The BJP will seek votes on the issue of drugs in Punjab,” he said, positioning the campaign as the party’s central plank in the border state.The BJP had first made drugs a poll issue in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, even though it was then in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), which headed the state government at the time. The party has now returned to the theme with greater force.Equally conspicuous was his silence on any alliance with SAD. Further, he stopped short of criticising their former ally and didn’t mention contesting all 117 Assembly segments. Speculation about a reunion between the two former allies has persisted, but Shah offered no hint either way, leaving party workers and political observers guessing.Shah also set a two-year timeline for tackling the drug problem. Observers said the deadline appeared to be a calculated move, coming after the failure of earlier promises by rivals. The Congress had promised in 2017 to end drugs within a month of coming to power, while the Aam Aadmi Party had claimed it would break the back of the drug trade within six months.