Imran Khan lobbied to keep Sidhu in cabinet, says Amarinder Singh

Former Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday (January 24) used the occasion of seat sharing announcement with the BJP to launch a fresh attack on old foe Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Amarinder Singh, a former Army man, told media persons that as soon as he dropped Sidhu from his cabinet in 2019, he received a call from Pakistan. “The Pakistan Prime Minister had sent a request, saying if you can take back Sidhu into your Cabinet I will be grateful, he is an old friend of mine. You can remove him if he will not work,” the former CM said.

Also read: Will Captain’s electoral swansong end in a Patiala peg or humiliation?

“If I remember correctly, it was 20 July. Firstly, let me tell you I removed Mr Sidhu from the job because the man was totally incompetent, incapable and totally useless in his job. He was looking after local government and for 70 days he had not completed one file. I called him a few times and offered to give him more power if he wanted, which Sidhu denied. I told him I don’t want you in my government. Leave my government,” said Singh.

Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is the state Congress president, responded to the BJP ally’s allegation by making light of the charge. “I don’t want to comment on someone who’s a spent force,” NDTV quoted Sidhu as saying.

Amarinder Singh, who was with the Congress and the state CM till recently before quitting the post and the party, has had a long rivalry with the former cricketer. He had dropped Sidhu from his cabinet in July 2019 after a public spat. Singh had openly criticised Sidhu for hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa at Prime Minister Imran Khan’s oath ceremony.

The tiff between Sidhu and Singh is no secret with the former striving hard to grab control of things within Congress from the time he quit BJP to join the Grand Old Party. The trouble started when an ageing Amarinder Singh refused to hand over the baton to the new entrant.

Also read: Decoding Punjab Cong muddle: Why did Sidhu walk out in a huff?

So deep is the rivalry between the two that 80-year-old Singh said he will make every possible effort to oppose Sidhu as the Chief Minister, accusing the later of having “connection with the Pakistan establishment” and said Sidhu as CM would be “a disaster”.

“I have seen Sidhu develop. I am anti his pro-Pakistan attitude. Indian soldiers are being killed on the border, and you go and hug General Bajwa and Imran Khan… If Sidhu is made the face of Congress, I will oppose it tooth and nail,” Singh said once.