As Capt spurns Pak invite, Cong rallies behind Sidhu
STATE CONGRESS CHIEF SAYS SIDHU SEIZED THE MOMENT AFTER CHANGE OF REGIME IN PAK AND HELPED MAKE KARTARPUR CORRIDOR DREAM A REALITY
CHANDIGARH: Even as Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Sunday declined Pakistan’s invite to attend the stone-laying ceremony for the Kartarpur corridor on the other side of the border on November 28, the state Congress has rallied behind local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who accepted Pakistan’s request with “with unalloyed joy”.
“The corridor is a tribute to the first Sikh master, Guru Nanak, and his teaching of universal brotherhood. The prayers of Sikhs all over the world have fructified. Sidhu seized the moment after change of regime in Pakistan and helped make this dream a reality,” Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar said.
Declining the invitation, Amarinder has cited terrorist attacks in Punjab and killings of Indian soldiers by Pakistani armed forces, as the reasons.
Though Amarinder has tried to take a high ground on issues of national security and terrorism, the real reason lies in the precedence Islamabad accorded to Sidhu in its invitee list. In Amarinder’s calculation, his minister Sidhu, as Imran’s friend, would garner much of the limelight in Pakistan.
Pak foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi had invited Sidhu on Friday, describing him as a steadfast partner in this endeavour. On Saturday evening, Qureshi tweeted an invite to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and Amarinder. Sushma too has declined the invite and deputed two Union ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Puri to represent her.
Amarinder has taken refuge under the anti-pakistan rant also as Indian delegation comprising Harsimrat would have overshadowed him, much to his discomfiture.
Sidhu on Sunday wrote back to Qureshi accepting the invitation saying the corridor will break barriers of history and open borders of hearts and mind and he has sent his request to attend it to the external affairs ministry.
“The prayers of 12 crore Sikhs and Sindhis have been answered. No one should play politics over the corridor. I am going as an Indian, on invite of a friend,” he said, refusing to comment
BJP RESURRECTS BELEAGUERED BADALS
The decision of the Bjp-led government at the Centre to allow the corridor has also resurrected its beleaguered ally the Shiromani Akali Dal, which is facing heat over sacrilege and police firing incidents of 2015.
The renewed bonhomie was evident when PM Narendra Modi also took part in Gurpurb function at SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and his wife Harsimrat’s residence on Friday after announcing the opening of the corridor.
The allies have also tried to steal Sidhu’s thunder who had made the first announcement on Pakistan’s keenness to open the corridor after his visit to Imran’s swearing-in stirred a controversy over his hug to Pak army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sidhu is one of the star campaigners of the Congress against the BJP in the five poll-bound states and a known Badal-baiter.