‘I oppose a system which includes tainted leaders’

A grab of the video through which Navjot Singh Sidhu expresses his views on Punjab politics. Pic/PTI

Breaking his silence a day after abruptly resigning as the Punjab Congress chief, Navot Singh Sidhu on Wednesday raised questions over the appointments of the director general of police, advocate general and "tainted" leaders.

He said he was ready to make "any sacrifice" but would always stand by his principles. Plunging the Congress into a fresh crisis months ahead of the assembly elections in the state, Sidhu put in his papers on Tuesday shortly after the allocation of portfolios to the members of the new state Cabinet led by Charanjit Singh Channi.

MLA Nathuram arrives to meet Sidhu at his residence, a day after his resignation from the post of PPCC president, in Patiala. Pic/PTI

Several party leaders, including ministers Pargat Singh and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, MLA Inderbir Singh Bolaria and Punjab Congress working president Pawan Goel, went to his residence in Patiala on Wednesday to meet him. Taking to Twitter, Sidhu said his objective had always been to improve the lives of people and "to make a difference".

"Till today, I have no personal grudge against anyone, nor have I fought personal battles," Sidhu said in an over four-minute video clip shared on his Twitter handle. "My fight has been on issues and a pro-Punjab agenda, for which I have stood for a long time," he said.

Apparently referring to senior IPS officer Iqbal Preet Singh Sahota, who has been given the additional charge of the director general of Punjab Police, Sidhu said, "Today, I see there is a compromise on those issues."

In an apparent reference to the 2015 desecration of Guru Granth Sahib incidents in Faridkot, he said his first priority was to fight for justice the people have been eagerly waiting for.

"I see those who had given clean chits to the Badals six years ago ... have been given the responsibility of delivering justice," he added. Sahota was the head of a special investigation team formed in 2015 by the then Akali government to probe the sacrilege incidents. Sidhu also apparently questioned the appointment of A P S Deol as the state's new advocate general. "My soul jitters when I see those who secured blanket bails, they are advocate general. What is the agenda here," he asked.

‘Spoke to Amit Shah about farmers' stir'

Amid speculation over his future move after resigning as Punjab chief minister, Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah at his residence on Wednesday and said he discussed the prolonged farmers' stir with him. After his meeting, Singh tweeted, "Met Union Home Minister Amit Shahji in Delhi. Discussed the prolonged farmers' agitation against #FarmLaws & urged him to resolve the crisis urgently with the repeal of the laws & guarantee MSP, besides supporting Punjab in crop diversification. #NoFarmersNoFood."

‘Anti-India Congress an obvious choice for Kanhaiya'

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia on Tuesday said that the ‘anti-India' Congress was an obvious choice for Kanhaiya Kumar whose ideology matches theirs. Bhatia said, "Congress is the natural first choice of any person, be it Kanhaiya Kumar or anyone else, with an anti-India ideology."

Is Lal Singh likely to take Sidhu's place?

As Congress is looking for a new state president in Punjab in case Navjot Singh Sidhu does not relent, the likely replacement for the post could be six-time MLA Lal Singh, the former finance minister of Punjab who held several government and organisational posts earlier, sources said.

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