The BJP has shifted gears in Punjab ahead of 2027 elections, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah today announcing his visit to the border state on October 20 to meet with the families who have lost their kin to drug menace and trade.Shah will be visiting Mansa, Sangrur and Gurdaspur that have witnessed three drug-related deaths in recent days: the daylight killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in Mansa, the suicide of Gulzar Singh who had flagged rampant availability of synthetic drugs in the state in the presence of Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema and the death of Bikramjit Singh of Gurdaspur.These are the families whose cases the Union Government has also taken upon itself to probe, with the Home Ministry on Friday writing to the Punjab Chief Secretary seeking detailed reports on the three deaths.Shah will visit Mansa, Dirba in Sangrur and Gurdaspur on October 20 before winding up his Punjab visit with a press conference at Amritsar the same day.Shah announced his visit today, saying the AAP government has spared no effort in pushing Punjab into the abyss of drugs, as a result of which numerous families have had to lose their children. “I will meet on Tuesday with the family members of those individuals who recently lost their lives in Mansa, Sangrur, and Gurdaspur for raising their voices against the drug peddlers thriving under the patronage of the AAP government. The grief these families have endured cannot be expressed in words. Attempts to suppress the voices rising against this vile drug trade will never succeed, and the people of the state will deliver a resounding response to it,” the Home Minister alleged.He said the Centre would actively pursue drug peddlers and send them behind bars and would continue its efforts until the entire country, including Punjab, is freed from this drug trade.The BJP will intensify its campaign against drugs in Punjab as it firms up election strategy in the state.Meanwhile, the action committee seeking justice for Jhota’s murder on Jattvibeday announced the boycott of Shah’s visit to Mansa. It said Shah would not be allowed on the protest stage and also appealed to Jhota’s father not to meet Shah.The committee alleged that the BJP was trying to exploit public sympathy to form the government in Punjab, while suppressing protests elsewhere in the country. It cited paper leaks and the alleged mistreatment of farmers as failures of the government.Questioning the Centre over drug smuggling, the committee members asked how drugs continued to reach Punjab when the BSF was under the Centre’s control and the BJP ruled neighbouring Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat.The committee said a meeting with the administration had been scheduled for Monday, with two senior IAS officers from Chandigarh reportedly arriving in Mansa for talks.