Congress defuses crisis following Sidhu’s remark

CHANDIGARH:: The Congress high command on Monday stepped in to resolve the row over “Rahul my Captain” remark of Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu by asking both Sidhu and loyalists of chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh to tone down the rhetoric.

A cabinet minister, who did not wish to be named, said the brief from the party high command was clear, “not to flare up the situation”. The party cannot afford to let the controversy linger on, he said.

Sidhu had made the remark at a press conference at Hyderabad while explaining his visit to Pakistan for groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor.

Sidhu, who is campaigning in poll-bound Rajasthan, tried to play down the controversy by saying he will clear the air with the CM. But he remained defiant when asked if he would tender an apology or retract his statement, a demand made by many of his cabinet colleagues. “I have said nothing wrong. So there is no question of retracting the statement or tendering an apology. But I love the CM and respect him as a father-figure...”

Back home, the ministers who were demanding that Sidhu be booted out of the cabinet, said the issue had been resolved. State rural development minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa said, “When a son has said he will resolve the matter with his father, who are we to come between a father and son? All’s well that ends well.”

Three other ministers too had demanded that the minister resign while four ministers had on Sunday targeted Sidhu and asked him to apologise, but none raised the issue at Monday’s cabinet meeting. “The matter was not discussed at the cabinet meeting as there were more important issues concerning the state. Also, we could have spoken on it only if Sidhu was present,” sports minister Rana Sodhi said.