‘Hunger strike’ – Sidhu’s latest threat to Punjab government

Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu has continued his campaign against the Charanjit Singh Channi government, declaring that he will go on hunger strike if the government does not make public the reports on drugs menace and the sacrilege.

The reports by state agencies on the drugs issue have been submitted in the HC and Sidhu wants the government to make the findings public.

“The party came to power promising eradication of drugs,” Sidhu said. “But if the government does not open the drug reports, I will go on a hunger strike. We need to show why the previous chief minister [Captain Amarinder Singh] sat on these reports. Now this government needs to open these reports. The court has not barred the state government from opening the reports,” he told reporters. 

The removal of Amarinder after a year-long feud has not brought much peace in Punjab Congress. With Sidhu’s aspiration for the top post crashing again with the selection of Channi, the ex-cricketer has not eased the pressure on the state government.

Days after Channi’s oath, he made his displeasure felt with the CM’s picks for cabinet, state police chief and the advocate general. The matter was sorted after much back and forth, but the truce between the two has been uncomfortable. Last month Sidhu wrote to Sonia Gandhi, listing a 13-point agenda on “priority areas” and promises made before 2017 polls he said “the state government must deliver upon”.

He added the decision was taken consciously and collectively after a lot of analysis and as part of a long-drawn exercise for the greater good of the people of Meghalaya and the nation. “We are setting a new trend for the future of the state, the region, and the nation with the utmost sense of humility but a complete sense of responsibility and commitment towards fulfilling our responsibility in serving the people, the state, and the nation,” he said.