Former Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh Monday said that he had got a message from Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan through a “common acquaintance” to reinstate PPCC chief Navjot Singh Sidhu, who was earlier a minister in Amarinder’s Cabinet.
Amarinder had divested Sidhu of his Local Bodies Department after 2019 Lok Sabha elections citing non-performance. “It was two-three weeks later that I got a message from Pakistan. I got a message from somebody we know, he (Imran Khan) knows and I know. He said that the PM has requested that if you can take Sidhu in your Cabinet, I will be grateful. He is an old friend of mine. If Mr Sidhu will not work then throw him out. This was the message,” Amarinder told the media.
Sidhu, while addressing a press conference, said he did not want to comment. He said, “Marre huye ko kya maarna (I do not want to flog a dead horse).”The PPCC chief added, “Ehda jawaab ohnu puccho jisnu Sultan ghode te charh ke leyaya si (Ask this question to the one whom he brought on Sultan horse.)”
Amarinder was gifted a horse by the then chief minister of Pakistan Punjab, Pervaiz Elahi, in 2004, when he had visited Pakistan as chief minister of this side of Punjab.Amarinder trained his guns at Sidhu’s tall claims of fighting the sand mafia when he had himself led the September rebellion of the MLAs who were involved in illegal mining, thus clearly exposing his own interest in sheltering them.
Considering that many of the Congress MLAs whom Sidhu had led in rebellion against him (Captain Amarinder) had direct or indirect interest or share in the state’s sand mafia, the PPCC president’s credentials in the matter were patently dubious, said the Punjab Lok Congress (PLC) chief.This, coupled with the fact that the PPCC president enjoyed hobnobbing with anti-national elements, including his close friends in the Pakistan leadership which had even lobbied for his induction in the state Cabinet, had exposed Sidhu’s self-interest and his complete apathy to Punjab’s interests, said the PLC chief.
Rejecting Sidhu’s allegation that he (Amarinder) had failed to take action against the sand mafia during his tenure as chief minister, the PLC leader said not only had he taken all possible administrative steps to check the illegal mining, he had specifically asked the Congress president for directions on acting against the Punjab Congress leaders and members involved in the racket.Why he was not given the necessary directions to take such action, which had political connotation and significance, was something that Sidhu should ask the Congress leadership if he really was serious about the issue, said Captain Amarinder.
The PLC chief said that the Punjab Congress MLAs, about whose ties with the sand mafia he had reported to the Congress president, were in direct touch with the party leadership in the run-up to his removal from chief ministership.What had shocked him was that instead of taking action against these MLAs, who had the support of Sidhu, the Congress high command had chosen to sack him, said the former chief minister
